The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program helps bring innovative solutions to public health challenges. Large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies as well as venture capital firms have traditionally provided the resources needed to fully develop and commercialize biomedical products and services initiated with federal SBIR funding.
However, today many investors in life science technologies have shown a bias toward financing the development of relatively mature technologies at established companies rather than the higher risk emerging technologies under development at many small businesses.
This Funding Opportunity Announcement from NIH solicits SBIR applications from Small Business Concerns (SBC) seeking additional funding to support the next stage of development for cancer-relevant projects which can include technologies that were previously funded under SBIR or STTR Phase II awards from federal agencies. NCI intends to commit $12,000,000 in FY 2020 to fund up to ten awards.
To meet the need, the National Cancer Institute https://www.nci.nih.gov on April 8, 2019 posted the funding notice SBIR Phase II Bridge Awards to Accelerate the Development of Cancer Relevant Technologies Toward Commercialization (RFA-CA-19-047).
Applications may fall within but are not limited to the specific areas and technologies included in descriptions listed in (Area 2, Area 4, and Area 5)
- Area 2: Cancer Imaging Technologies, Interventional Devices, and In Vivo Diagnostics may include development of medical devices for in vivo cancer imaging or systems for image guided surgery, radiation therapy devices, cancer imaging agents, and devices and technologies that directly enable the delivery of cancer therapies
- Area 4: Technologies for Cancer Prevention and Control, Supportive Care, and Survivorship may include digital health technologies and mobile applications focused on behavioral health interventions, to improve screening and diagnosis, efficacy of therapy and end of treatment transitions, software tools and bioinformatics technologies for data integration and cancer control, and tools for genetic, epidemiologic, behavioral, social and/or surveillance cancer research
- Area 5: Tools and Model Systems for Cancer Research may include software and bioinformatics tools for cancer research, and enabling technologies to use for drug screening and preclinical profiling technologies, epitope discovery technologies, and bio- specimen acquisition and analysis technologies
Go to https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-CA-19-047.html#_Section_ll.Award-1 for more details on (RFA-CA-19-047) Applications are due August 9, 2019.