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HCN Grants Est. 2026
No. PAR-25-442 · National Institutes of Health
Open

Expanding the Target Landscape by Drugging the Undruggable (R21 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

grants.gov listing ↗ Full announcement (NOFO) ↗
Dealbreakers No cost share required Audit: not stated
Not reimbursement-only
“Grant: A financial assistance mechanism providing money, property, or both to an eligible entity to carry out an approved project or activity.” — From the announcement

At a glance

This program funds exploratory, early-stage preclinical projects that develop a method or agent for currently undruggable target classes in intractable human diseases. It is open to a wide range of U.S. and non-U.S. organizations, including nonprofits, universities, governments, small businesses, and faith-based or community-based organizations, but foreign organizations and foreign components of U.S. organizations are not eligible. Awards are for up to 2 years, with total direct costs up to $275,000 and no more than $200,000 in any single year. No cost sharing is required, and clinical trial proposals are not allowed. Projects with a majority of work focused on cancer are not responsive to this notice.

AI-generated summary — verify against the announcement

What it funds

  • Health
  • Research & Discovery
  • Researchers & Scholars
  • Biomedical & Disease Research
Official description from grants.gov

The purpose of this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is to solicit applications for exploratory and early-stage projects that focus on undruggable target classes within intractable human disease. Applicants will identify a human disease relevant undruggable target class and develop a method or agent that is selective for one or more targets within that target class. This NOFO is intended to jumpstart research that demonstrates innovative strategies to modulate targets that cannot be addressed by established therapeutic types, furthering the development of methods and/or agents selective for undruggable target classes.

Who can apply

  • City or township governments
  • County governments
  • For-profit organizations other than small businesses
  • Independent school districts
  • Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized)
  • Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized)
  • Nonprofits with 501(c)(3) status (other than higher education)
  • Nonprofits without 501(c)(3) status (other than higher education)
  • Others
  • Private institutions of higher education
  • Public and State controlled institutions of higher education
  • Public housing authorities / Indian housing authorities
  • Small businesses
  • Special district governments
  • State governments
Geographic restriction None found in the announcement — likely nationwide