The FY19 Defense Appropriation provides $3.2 million (M) to the Department of Defense Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Research Program (DMDRP) to support innovative, high-impact Duchenne muscular dystrophy research.  As directed by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, the Defense Health Agency J9, Research and Development Directorate manages the Defense Health Program (DHP) Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) appropriation. The managing agent for the anticipated Program Announcements/Funding Opportunities is the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC).

The DMDRP is providing the information in this pre-announcement to allow investigators time to plan and develop applications.  FY19 DMDRP Program Announcement and General Application Instructions for the following award mechanism are anticipated to be posted on the Grants.gov website in June 2019.  Pre-application and application deadlines will be available when the Program Announcement is released.  This pre-announcement should not be construed as an obligation by the government.

IMPORTANT:  All applications for the FY19 DMDRP Idea Development Award must address opportunities and challenges in the development of safe and effective macromolecular and cellular therapies that address primary pathology of DMD. Eligible therapeutic strategies include: gene therapy, genome editing, oligonucleotide therapies, exon skipping, protein therapeutics, and cell therapies.

Studies proposed under this award may include:

·         Delivery to skeletal muscle and heart (ligand assisted, nanoparticles, identification of biological barriers to delivery, alternative vectors)

·         Immunosuppression, and other strategies to deal with neutralizing antibodies

·         Re-dosing

·         Targeting muscle stem cells

·         Cell based therapies, including but not limited to: selection of novel cell types, expansion, root of delivery, differentiation, and integration

Studies proposed under this award should not include:

• ·         Therapies addressing secondary pathology of DMD (fibrosis, inflammation, muscle atrophy, oxidative stress, mitochondrial defects, abnormal peripheral circulation)
• ·         Small molecules
• ·         Efficacy testing absence of mechanistic understanding,
• ·         Evaluation of standard vectors or delivery technologies

 

https://cdmrp.army.mil/pubs/press/2019/19dmdrppreann

 

Idea Development Award

Independent investigators at all academic levels (or equivalent).

• ·         Supports the development of innovative, high-impact ideas that advance the understanding of DMD and ultimately lead to improved outcomes.
• ·         Preliminary data relevant to the proposed project are required.
• ·         Pre-application is required; application submission is by invitation only.
• ·         Clinical trials or applications including a clinical trial aim are not allowed
• ·         Individual PI:
• ·         Maximum funding of $350 thousand (K) in total costs
• ·         Maximum period of performance 2 years

 

A pre-application is required and must be submitted through the electronic Biomedical Research Application Portal (eBRAP) at https://eBRAP.org prior to the pre-application deadline.  All applications must conform to the final Program Announcements and General Application Instructions that will be available for electronic downloading from the Grants.gov website.  The application package containing the required forms for each award mechanism will also be found on Grants.gov.  A listing of all CDMRP and other USAMRMC extramural funding opportunities can be obtained on the Grants.gov website by performing a basic search using CFDA Number 12.420. 

 

Submission deadlines are not available until the Program Announcements are released.  For email notification when Program Announcements are released, subscribe to program-specific news and updates under “Email Subscriptions” on the eBRAP homepage at https://eBRAP.org.  For more information about the DMDRP or other CDMRP-administered programs, please visit the CDMRP website (https://cdmrp.army.mil).

Point of Contact:

CDMRP Public Affairs
301-619-9783
usarmy.detrick.medcom-cdmrp.mbx.cdmrp-public-affairs@mail.mil