Pre-clinical RFA Grants

The Reeve Foundation in partnership with Spinal Research (ISRT) will launch a pre-clinical RFA in 2024.

A critical step in the translational pipeline is that between discovery and Investigational New Drug (or Investigational Device) enabling studies. Therefore, the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation and Spinal Research (ISRT) will support a request for applications encompassing pre-clinical translational research to support pre-IND and pre-IDE studies in traumatic spinal cord injury.

The overall goal is to promote an understanding of a proposed therapeutic to de-risk and prepare for the next stages of development. Studies of new or repurposed drugs and biologics, and non-clinical research for medical devices, gene therapy approaches, in the areas of neuroprotection, regeneration and plasticity are within the scope of the RFA. Full drug screens, IND enabling studies or clinical research are outside the scope of this RFA.

Suggested areas of focus (applicable areas for drugs, biologics and devices are within the scope of this RFA):

• Pre-clinical in vitro and/or in vivo studies
• Assay development (including target based assays for drug screening, target engagement and potency assays), lead candidate optimization, studies confirming mechanism of action, evidence of target engagement and selectivity for spinal cord injury relevant mechanisms of action potency, selectivity screens, mechanistic studies, evidence on blood spinal cord penetrance.
• Proof of concept studies validating potential benefits of a therapeutic strategy in pre-clinical spinal cord injury models.
• Dose, timing, non-GLP toxicology, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, biomarker development in preclinical spinal cord injury studies.
• Medical devices in similar pre-clinical development stages and areas of focus (including benchtop studies).

The RFA will open in Q2 2024 (stay tuned for dates) with a letter of intent process followed by invited full grant applications.

US or non-US academic or private institutions or companies may apply.  Industry and academic partnerships are encouraged.

Funded grants will be 1-2 years in duration with a maximum amount of $250,000 over the grant term.  Funding will be milestone based.

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