(Major) Confusion about USG funding in the Life Sciences. What programs are still available for developmental funding for small-medium size businesses?
Our View Priorities have been changed in the past year. (Maybe the understatement of the year!) That means a change in the type of available opportunities. As always, for the right technology at the right stage of development, the funds are still there.
1. The NIH is no longer a go-to option for organizations willing to slog through the grant funding process. And it was (and is) a slog! Even before the “reorg”, beyond the extended timelines from proposal generation to award, the review process frequently put companies at a disadvantage compared to academia. (In our opinion. And we’re not thumping academia – we recognize the value in their research.)
- We prefer and have been very successful with contracts from NIH but these have become even more rare than grants.
2. The programs in the BARDA umbrella have shifted priorities. The opportunities are there but the emphasis is in different areas.
- Vaccines have diminished in importance – A review of SAM today compared to 2 years ago confirms this. The various divisions, RRPV, ARPA-H are very active. (More on this below.)
3. The path into DoD is (relatively) steady. A few years ago the DoD went to OTA’s as a primary funding mechanism for biomedical development. There are still opportunities coming from DTRA; most of the activity is at MTEC and MCDC. There are also opportunities coming directly from the JPEO-CBRND. (See below.)
4. There’s more competition for available funds. No surprise. It means that proposals have to be Grade A reviewer-friendly for consideration with fewer gaps allowed. It means more effort, more time, greater attention to detail, and rigorous independent reviews ahead of submission. AI can polish but it shouldn’t be relied on for the original content.
PROGRAMS OF INTEREST
There are about half-dozen programs we think have good potential for the right technology.
BARDA – BAA
Beginning with a TechWatch, there are numerous opportunities in the open BAA.
RRPV
New Vaccine Platforms RFI Due 1/9/26
The objective … is to solicit feedback from industry, academia, and other stakeholders to assist BARDA in identifying, and understand the development maturity of, vaccine platform technologies that (1) are safe and effective across a broad range of different known infectious disease threats and (2) can enable efficient development timelines in response to emerging infectious disease threats. We believe that it’s almost always of value to respond to RFI’s if for no other reason than you get your name in front of the reviewers. If/when you submit to an RFP, they may just remember you.
Assay Development for Superior Understanding of Response and Efficacy Due 12/18/25
(ASSURE) … aims to develop innovative, multiplexed, high-throughput, scalable and sample-sparing assays that provide comprehensive evaluation of an individual’s immune status as a response to either infection or vaccination.
… seeks to de-risk the development of novel assay platform technologies with the ultimate goal of establishing new, qualified assays primarily for BARDA and vaccine developers to comprehensively assess the immune response and status elicited by vaccines and/or infection due to CBRN threats, pandemic influenza, or other emerging infectious diseases. Some of these assays may lead to support of new correlates of protection. Possible to submit on this one but if you’re not at least a third done with a proposal, either give up sleep completely or put in a wild card application and hope they love the technology.
Rapid Antibody Production for Immunoassay Diagnostics (RAPID) Request for Information Due 12/4/25
The objective of this RFI is to solicit feedback from industry, academia, and other stakeholders to assist BARDA in understanding existing process bottlenecks and to identify technologies, capabilities, and potential partnerships that can substantially improve the speed, scalability, and adaptability of antibody (or other protein/peptide binders) development for diagnostic applications, particularly for unknown biothreats or emerging pathogens. Possible to submit on very short notice. Better to simply watch this for an RFP.
BioMaP
This OTA consortium is going to be heavily focused on on-shoring. There is one opportunity open, “Domestic Capability Building Activity – Onshoring the Manufacturing of Viral Hemorrhagic Fever Vaccine Candidates” due December 11. With an emphasis on contract service provider opportunities, this is a group we think is worth joining.
ARPA-H
3 Programs and 1 Initiative. Tend to be large awards that frequently require teaming/consortiums to meet all of the requirements.
JETT
This is a TechWatch-like program sponsored by the DoD JPEO-CBRND. The application process is straightforward and it gets your technology in front of SME’s, albeit in an abbreviated format: 20 minutes including questions.
MCDC
This DoD sponsored OTA has opportunities throughout the year. Because the cybersecurity requirements can be challenging for a small company, our advice is to apply to an opportunity first and join second. MCDC publishes “Forecasted Opportunities” which provide advance notice of possible solicitations. If there is a near ‘perfect fit’ opportunity on the list, we recommend starting early, at least collecting information and generating a ballpark budget.
MTEC
The other DoD sponsored OTA. Charter is to “…advance the rapid deployment of innovative medical technologies that improve the health of the military and civilians…” More product oriented and smaller awards.
JPEO – CBRND
Warm off the presses: Far Forward Biological Sequencing (Increment 2) for JPEO CBRND; Automated Sample Prep Due:12/8/25
And now for something completely similar:
Bill would establish biomanufacturing center of excellence
A bipartisan group of US lawmakers has introduced legislation to establish a national center of excellence for biopharmaceutical manufacturing. The public-private center would develop and test biomanufacturing processes and support the standardization of chemistry, manufacturing and controls, and good manufacturing practices. Pharma Manufacturing 11/25
Worth a Read:
Endpoints Signal Biopharma Sentiment Index
https://endpoints.news/biopharma-sentiment-index-q4-2025/
Happy Holidays!
More to come later this month….
Mark Logomasini, MBA, PMP
Managing Partner
