Biomedical Catalyst: Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme (DPFS) outline: Nov 2021

• Time remaining: 5m 0w 2d 2h 12m
• Status: Future
• Open date: 15 Oct 2021
• Closing date: 24 Nov 2021 16:00 GMT
• Type: Grants, Researcher-led
• Triage/shortlisting: Dec 2021
• Meeting date: 20 - 21 Jan 2022
• Categories: Translation

DPFS is an ongoing scheme, with outline deadlines every 4 months.

Further details of open and future DPFS deadlines can be found on the submission deadlines page for the scheme.

The DPFS scheme is a key part of our Translational Research Strategy and supports the translation of fundamental discoveries toward benefits to human health. It funds the pre-clinical development and early clinical testing of novel therapeutics, devices and diagnostics, including “repurposing” of existing therapies.

Remit

The scheme supports academically led projects whose goals are to improve prevention, diagnosis, prognosis, or treatment of significant health needs, or that focus on developing research tools that increase the efficiency of developing interventions.

Projects supported by the scheme have up to four clearly defined milestones, outcomes and future plans. These help to maximise both the chance of success and the likelihood of the project attracting the downstream funding, from public or private sources, required to meet its clinical and commercial aims. The funding panels assessing the project will, if necessary, help to develop proposals and suggest enhancements.

The following activities are eligible for support:

• Developing candidate therapeutic entities (e.g. drug discovery)
• Pre-clinical testing of novel therapeutic entities
• Early-phase clinical studies of novel therapeutic entities (phases 1 and 2)
• “Repurposing” clinical studies – using existing therapies for new indications
• Developing and testing novel devices
• Developing and testing diagnostics (including biomarker validation)

Individual projects can start and finish at any point along the translational pathway but would not typically progress from initial development through to phase 2 clinical testing in a single application. Where there is a justified need for continued MRC support, sequential applications are encouraged.

All disease areas (including those relevant to global health) and modalities of intervention are eligible for support from the scheme, including small molecules, peptides, antibodies, vaccines, regenerative medicine, cell and gene therapy, devices, surgical techniques and psychological approaches.

Funding to support projects whose goals are to generate the evidence needed to submit a mature, substantial, request to develop regenerative medicine therapies would be welcomed through the Research Boards, and should be directed to the Board most appropriate to the science proposed.

The following activities are ineligible for support:

• Fundamental or investigative research not linked to a development plan (supported by the Research Boards
• Clinical studies where the primary purpose is to investigate disease mechanism (supported by the Research Boards
• Late-phase clinical trials (supported by the MRC-NIHR Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation Programme and the NIHR Health Technology Assessment Programme)
• Late-phase global health trials (supported by the Global Health Trials Programme and the Joint Global Health Trials Scheme).

Eligibility

Please note that there is no formal limit to the total amount that can be requested in a DPFS grant – all costs should be fully justified within a proposal and the Panel will assess value for money in the context of the proposed work.

Collaborations

Applications including partnerships with charities or industry are encouraged where these add value to the project – for example, in terms of access to expertise, technologies, reagents or funding. Please note that industrial collaboration is not a prerequisite for application.

Applications involving collaboration with industry should adhere to the MRC Industry Collaboration Agreement guidance. The lead applicant must be the academic partner, and the MRC will meet the academic costs of the project only.

Application process

Proposals are assessed in a two-stage process. The first step involves review of an outline proposal (download the outline Case for Support form here). Successful outline applicants are invited to submit a full application, which undergoes external peer review before a further, more detailed, review by the Panel. The total assessment time for an application submitted to MRC, from outline submission to full decision, is approximately 26 weeks.