The National Institutes of Health has issued a funding opportunity announcement seeking grant applications for Countermeasures Against Chemical Threats (CounterACT) Cooperative Research Projects (U01s).
The mission of the CounterACT U01 program is to develop new and improved therapeutics for chemical threats to reduce mortality and morbidity during and after emergency events involving the release of chemical threat agents.
Chemical threat agents are toxic chemicals that could cause mass casualties after being released by a deliberate terrorist attack, or by industrial accident or natural disaster. The purpose of the U01 funding opportunity is to foster and support the development of Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved therapeutics that can be used effectively to treat individuals during a chemical emergency event.
The current effort only supports translational research which is clearly relevant to the development of therapeutics that will enhance medical response capabilities during a chemical emergency. The categories of research supported under this program may include:
- Mechanistic research to identify targets for therapeutic development
- Creation and development of screening assays for therapy development
- Creation and validation of animal models of chemical effects on humans
- Identification of candidate therapeutics using primary/secondary screening efforts
- Development of proof-of-principle data on the efficacy of candidate therapeutics
- Advanced efficacy studies with appropriate animal models
- Preliminary and advanced preclinical research including safety and pharmacokinetic studies
Letters of intent are due August 16, 2013. Further details are available under FOA Number: PAR-13-208.
