Open Funding Opportunities

The purpose of this HEAL Initiative program is to: (1) support basic and mechanistic pain research from R15-eligible undergraduate-focused serving institutions, health professional schools or graduate schools; (2) promote integrated, interdisciplinary research partnerships between Principal Investigators (PIs) from R15-eligible institutions and investigators from U.S. domestic institutions; and (3) enhance the pain research environment at the R15-eligible institution for health professional students, undergraduate and/or graduate students through active engagement in pain research.

Applications in response to this notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) should include plans to accomplish these goals. Specifically, applications should include a rigorous plan for conducting basic and mechanistic pain research in the Research Strategy section of the application. In addition, a research partnership between the PI’s institution and at least one investigator from a separate U.S. domestic institution that provides resources and/or expertise that will enhance the proposed pain research program must be included in a separate Team Management Plan. The proposed partnership will be a sub-award agreement(s) with at least one partnering institution, which does not need to be R15-eligible. The budget of all sub-awards must not exceed one third of the total budget. Furthermore, applications must include a Facilities & Other Resources document that demonstrates active involvement of health professional students, undergraduate and/or graduate students from the R15-eligible institution(s) in the proposed pain research projects.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) seeks research for the discovery and development of medications to prevent and treat substance use disorders (SUDs) and overdose.

The UG3/UH3 Phased Innovation Awards Cooperative Agreement funding mechanism involves 2 phases. The UG3 is to support a project with specific milestones to be accomplished by the end of the 2-year period. The UH3 is to provide funding for 3 years to a project that successfully completed the milestones set in the UG3. UG3 projects that have met their milestones will be administratively considered by NIDA and prioritized for transition to the UH3 phase. Investigators responding to this FOA must address both UG3 and UH3 phases.

Application may include preclinical or clinical research studies that will have high impact and quickly yield the necessary results to advance closer to or to FDA approval. The compounds to be evaluated can be small molecules or biologic and may focus on the development of new chemical entities, new formulations of marketed medications available for other indications, or combinations of medications.

Through this funding opportunity, NIDA seeks to fast-track the discovery and development of medications to prevent and treat SUDs and overdose and to advance them in the FDA's pathway.

This notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) aims to encourage research grant applications for initial translational efforts that will enable a drug discovery program for novel, non-opioid, and non-addictive treatments for pain. The program provides funding to develop and validate assays to support a distinct testing funnel and conduct screening efforts to identify and characterize potential therapeutic agents including small molecules, biologics, and natural products. Preliminary in vivo pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic, and efficacy studies may also be supported. The goal of this NOFO is to advance projects to the point where they meet the entry criteria for the Pain Therapeutics Development Program or other later-stage translational programs.

This NOFO is part of the NIH Helping to End Addiction Long Term (HEAL) initiative to accelerate the discovery and preclinical development of safe and effective therapeutics to treat pain with little or no addiction liability.

The purpose of the NIH HEAL Initiative PainCare Clinician Training Program (PCTP): Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development award (K23) (Clinical Trial Required) is to support the career development of individuals with clinical doctoral degrees to create a group of new and well-trained, independent investigators. This supervised career development program will provide independent NIH research support during the early-career phase to help recipients  establish independent research programs in areas supported by the NIH HEAL Initiative’s Clinical Research in Pain Management program.

This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is designed specifically for applicants proposing to serve as the lead investigator of an independent clinical trial, a clinical trial feasibility study, or a separate ancillary study to an existing trial, as part of their research and career development. Applicants not planning an independent clinical trial, or proposing to gain research experience in a clinical trial led by another investigator, must apply to the companion NOFO.

The purpose of this NIH HEAL Initiative PainCare Clinician Training Program (PCTP): Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Awards (K08) (BESH) is to support the career development of individuals with clinical doctoral degrees to create a group of new and well-trained, independent investigators. This supervised career development program will provide independent NIH research support during the early-career phase to help awardees establish independent research programs in areas supported by the NIH HEAL Initiative’s Clinical Research in Pain Management program.

This Parent Announcement is for basic science experimental studies involving humans, referred to in NOT-OD-18-212 as “prospective basic science studies involving human participants.” These studies fall within the NIH definition of a clinical trial and also meet the definition of basic research. Types of studies that should be submitted under this NOFO include studies that prospectively assign human participants to conditions (i.e., experimentally manipulate independent variables) and that assess biomedical or behavioral outcomes in humans for the purpose of understanding the fundamental aspects of phenomena without specific application towards processes or products in mind. Applicants not planning an independent clinical trial or basic experimental study with humans, or proposing to gain research experience in a clinical trial or basic experimental study with humans led by another investigator, must apply to the 'Independent Clinical Trial Not Allowed' companion NOFO.

The proposed project must be related to the programmatic interests of one or more of the participating NIH Institutes and Centers (ICs) based on their scientific missions.

This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is designed specifically for applicants proposing to serve as the lead investigator of an independent clinical trial, a clinical trial feasibility study, or a separate ancillary study to an existing trial, as part of their research and career development. Applicants not planning an independent clinical trial or basic experimental study with humans, or proposing to gain research experience in a clinical trial basic experimental study with humans led by another investigator, must apply to the Independent Clinical Trial Not Allowed companion NOFO.

This notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) aims to encourage research grant applications for initial translational efforts that will enable a drug discovery program for novel, non-opioid, and non-addictive treatments for pain. The program provides funding to develop and validate assays to support a distinct testing funnel and conduct screening efforts to identify and characterize potential therapeutic agents including small molecules, biologics, and natural products. Preliminary in vivo pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic, and efficacy studies may also be supported. The goal of this NOFO is to advance projects to the point where they meet the entry criteria for the Pain Therapeutics Development Program or other later-stage translational programs.

Despite an evidence base of effective programs to prevent the initiation of substance use, misuse and disorder, a substantial research to practice gap exists. The goal of this initiative is to support projects that fill this research to practice gap, improving public health and responding to the opioid crisis by increasing knowledge pertaining to the delivery of prevention services. This notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) solicits applications to address understudied areas of opportunity that, if researched, could create the foundation needed to inform a prevention infrastructure for ongoing delivery and sustainment of interventions to prevent opioid and other substance misuse and use disorders. This NOFO invites projects for which preliminary or feasibility data is not available. This NOFO is a companion to RFA-DA-24-067 which solicits applications for which pilot data is available.

This notice of special interest (NOSI) is part of the NIH's Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) initiative to speed the development and implementation of scientific solutions to the national opioid public health crisis by bolstering research across NIH to (1) improve treatment for opioid misuse and addiction and (2) enhance pain management. More information and periodic updates about the HEAL Initiative are available at: https://heal.nih.gov/.

In the United States, a relatively small number of high-need patients account for a disproportionately high level of healthcare utilization, including hospital admissions and costs. Having a substance use disorder (SUD) increases the risk of an individual falling into this high-risk, high-need population. Furthermore, the co-occurrence of general medical conditions and SUD, including opioid use disorder (OUD) complicates the treatment and can worsen the outcomes of both. Screening for SUD and OUD is not routine for most medical or surgical admissions. Even when identified, individuals can experience worse outcomes for their medical or surgical conditions because of stigma or because their SUD may complicate their hospitalization in other ways (e.g., poor venous access in people who inject drugs). At the same time, individuals being treated in medical or surgical wards may not receive evidence-based treatment or linkage to outpatient OUD/SUD treatment upon discharge.

There are existing models for initiation of treatment for OUD during general inpatient hospital medical stays, some of which involve linkage to care post-discharge (e.g., addiction consult services, consultation liaison psychiatry referrals, care coordinators, patient navigators, bridge clinics). Some of these have been studied formally for short time periods and/or at limited scale. Others may have both emergency department (ED) and inpatient treatment initiation and linkage, but far more evaluation has been done on the ED initiation and linkage than the inpatient components. These models have not been scaled up and used widely to date, indicating possible limitations with the models, additional barriers to implementation, or limited experience with the models in varied health systems.

In addition, there is literature to support the idea the hospital may be an appropriate place to screen for and assess SUDs including OUD, that OUD may complicate or extend the hospital stay and increase costs, and that initiation of treatment during hospitalization and linkage to continued outpatient care can be beneficial in reducing hospital re-admissions.