DoD Peer Reviewed Medical, Discovery Award | HT9425 23 PRMRP DA

Opportunity Information: Apply for HT9425 23 PRMRP DA

The Department of Defense (DoD), through the U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (USAMRAA), offered the Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP) Discovery Award (Funding Opportunity Number: HT9425 23 PRMRP DA). This opportunity sits in the science and technology and broader research and development category (CFDA 12.420) and is intended to fund early, concept-driven work rather than incremental extensions of existing projects. The core purpose is to back innovative, high-risk research that has the potential for high reward by generating genuinely new insights, shifting current scientific paradigms, or creating new technologies or applications. In practical terms, the program is looking for studies that can open up new directions for future research rather than simply filling small gaps in what is already known.

A central expectation of the Discovery Award is that proposed projects are grounded in a clear and testable hypothesis. The announcement emphasizes that the hypothesis should be supported by a sound scientific rationale and a well-constructed study design, which signals that novelty alone is not enough; applicants need to show that the work is thoughtfully planned and that the approach is capable of producing interpretable results. At the same time, the award is explicitly positioned to encourage non-incremental ideas, meaning it is aimed at bold or unconventional concepts that could materially change how a problem is understood or addressed if successful.

In terms of what research activities are allowed, the mechanism cannot be used to conduct clinical trials. However, it does allow non-interventional clinical research studies, which generally means studies where researchers do not assign participants to receive specific interventions as part of the protocol. That can include certain observational or correlational human studies, data or specimen analyses, and other clinical research approaches that do not meet the definition of a clinical trial. This boundary is important for applicants to consider when shaping project aims and methods, especially for proposals involving human subjects or clinical settings.

The opportunity was listed as discretionary funding and could be supported through either a grant or a cooperative agreement, depending on the structure of the award and the expected level of involvement by the funding agency. Eligibility was described as unrestricted, meaning it was broadly open to many entity types, subject to any additional eligibility clarifications contained in the full announcement. The posting date for the opportunity was January 31, 2023, and the original application closing date was April 26, 2023. The listing also projected approximately 60 expected awards, suggesting a relatively substantial portfolio of funded projects for that cycle. The stated award ceiling in the provided source data is shown as 0, which typically indicates that the ceiling was not specified in that field of the summary record and would normally need to be confirmed in the full solicitation or program announcement details.

Overall, this funding opportunity is best understood as a DoD medical research seed-and-launch style mechanism: it prioritizes creativity and potential impact, requires a rigorous hypothesis-driven plan, supports foundational work that can catalyze future studies, and draws a firm line against interventional clinical trials while still allowing certain types of non-interventional clinical research.

• The Department of Defense, Dept. of the Army -- USAMRAA in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "DoD Peer Reviewed Medical, Discovery Award" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 12.420.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jan 31, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Apr 26, 2023. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 60 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

Apply for HT9425 23 PRMRP DA

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