Alzheimer Centers for Discovery of New Medicines (U54 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | RFA AG 19 010

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA AG 19 010

The Alzheimer Centers for Discovery of New Medicines (U54 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) funding opportunity (RFA-AG-19-010) is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) cooperative agreement designed to stand up multi-component research centers focused on accelerating early-stage Alzheimer’s disease (AD) drug discovery. The central goal is to strengthen and diversify the AD therapeutic pipeline by moving beyond target identification and pushing promising next-generation targets through rigorous characterization and experimental validation, then carrying those validated targets into concrete drug discovery campaigns. A key emphasis is on producing a more investable set of therapeutic opportunities by reducing scientific and technical risk far enough that private-sector partners are more likely to pick up and advance resulting assets toward clinical development.

These Centers are expected to function as integrated hubs rather than single-project awards. In practice, that means coordinating multiple interlocking components that collectively take a target from “interesting biology” to “enabled for drug discovery.” A major deliverable highlighted in the announcement is the creation and dissemination of tools and resources that support Target Enabling Packages (TEPs). TEPs are essentially structured bundles of evidence, reagents, assays, and supporting data that make it feasible for the broader research community and drug developers to evaluate a target efficiently and credibly. The FOA specifically encourages targets emerging from National Institute on Aging (NIA)-supported target discovery efforts, including programs like AMP-AD, signaling that applicants should be prepared to connect large-scale discovery findings to hands-on experimental validation and medicinal chemistry-oriented workflows.

In addition to enabling targets, the Centers are expected to initiate early-stage drug discovery efforts against those enabled targets. While the FOA does not allow clinical trials, it is firmly oriented toward translational output: tool building, assay development, proof-of-mechanism studies, early hit identification and optimization strategies, and other activities that advance a target toward a viable therapeutic concept. The “cooperative agreement” mechanism is also important because it typically involves substantial NIH programmatic involvement, meaning awardees should anticipate active coordination with NIH staff and potentially with other funded Centers to align practices, share resources, and maximize collective impact.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of U.S.-based organizations and governments. Eligible applicants include state, county, city, township, and special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; tribal organizations that are not federally recognized; nonprofit organizations with and without 501(c)(3) status (excluding institutions of higher education under those categories); for-profit organizations (other than small businesses); and small businesses, as well as other unspecified eligible entities. The FOA also explicitly calls out additional eligible groups such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-serving institutions, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, and Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), along with faith-based or community-based organizations, eligible federal agencies, regional organizations, and U.S. territories or possessions.

At the same time, there are clear restrictions related to foreign participation. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities (foreign organizations and foreign institutions) are not eligible to apply, and non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are also not eligible to apply. However, foreign components as defined by the NIH Grants Policy Statement are allowed, which typically means a U.S. applicant can include certain foreign collaborations or performance sites when they are well-justified and meet NIH policy requirements, even though the applicant organization itself must be domestic.

From an administrative standpoint, this is a discretionary, health-related funding opportunity under CFDA number 93.866, offered by NIH. The award instrument is a U54 cooperative agreement, and the listed award ceiling is $5,250,000. The original closing date shown in the source information is February 1, 2019, and the opportunity was created on August 2, 2018. Overall, the announcement is aimed at building robust, tool-rich AD drug discovery Centers that can take novel targets, validate them experimentally, package them in a way that supports community use, and launch early discovery campaigns that make downstream industry investment more likely.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Alzheimer Centers for Discovery of New Medicines (U54 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.866.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2018-08-02.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2019-02-01. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $5,250,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

Apply for RFA AG 19 010

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