ReGRoW: Funding for Underresourced Researchers in Low and Lower-Middle Income Countries

This RFP is seeking clinical repurposing trials led by under resourced researchers and clinicians based in low and lower-middle income countries (LMICs), as defined by the World Bank.

While this RFP is accepting clinical repurposing trials addressing any unsolved disease, CWR has a preference for trials that address high disease burden whether non-communicable diseases; communicable diseases; maternal, neonatal and nutritional diseases; or injuries.

All submissions must include ideas and/or plans to engage the community of interest before, during and after the proposed clinical trial. This can be through collaborations with community-based organizations, community leaders and/or community-led patient groups. An unsolved disease is one in which one or more of the following are true:

• There is currently no effective treatment
• The current treatment is only effective for a portion of the patient population
• There is a treatment that is effective, but many patients develop resistance to the therapy
• There is a treatment that is effective for the entire patient population, but the treatment is very expensive, and therefore some patients cannot get access to the treatment
• There is a treatment that is effective for the entire patient population with significant side effects and for some patients the negative side effects outweigh the benefits of the treatment

Objectives

• Repurposed therapies may be used to create “new” treatments that:
  • Reduce disease symptoms, progression or incidence; or
  • Restore function lost to the disease; or
  • Reduce or eliminate severe side effects of currently used therapies, thereby improving patient outcomes and quality of life

Funding Information

• CWR is accepting budgets of up to US$65,000 for this funding opportunity.
• CWR will provide up to US$7,500 in additional financial support for community engagement, with at least US$4,000 required for community engagement.

Eligibility Criteria

• Eligible treatments must:
  • Be a drug, nutraceutical or indigenous medicine used in an interventional clinical trial to treat a new disease indication
  • Be already approved by the FDA, EMA or other regulatory body, or be otherwise safe and readily available for human use
  • Be available in generic form in the country where the research will be conducted
  • Not be under patent protection anywhere in the world
• Eligible institutions must:
  • Be located in LMICs, as defined by the World Bank
  • Have received previous external, third-party clinical research funding from government, NGO, private foundation or other sources
  • Have a research Institutional Review Board (IRB), Ethics Review Committee or equivalent in place
  • Follow the World Health Organization’s or other regulatory agencies’ standards for Good Laboratory Practice (GLP), Good Clinical Practice (GCP) and/or Good Laboratory and Clinical Practice (GLCP)
  • Have past or current experience with human clinical research
  • Preference will be given to institutions with established collaborations with institutions in high income countries.

Application Requirements

• Applications must be submitted and conducted by PIs located in LMICs, as defined by the World Bank
• Address any unsolved disease or medical condition, with a preference for addressing high disease burden whether non-communicable diseases; communicable diseases; maternal, neonatal and nutritional diseases; or injuries
• Be interventional human clinical trials that treat patients with a repurposed therapy to prevent disease progression and/or improve patient outcomes in unsolved diseases; preference will be given to clinical trials supported by strong scientific evidence or clinical observations
• Be completed in no more than 36 months
• Be submitted in English only via ProposalCentral
• Be led either by a previously funded investigator or by an early-stage investigator who has received little or no extramural research funding to date:
  • PIs who have not received extramural funding previously and/or who do not currently have their own lab should include a Letter of Support from a funded, senior researcher who will act as a mentor for the proposed research and the investigator
• Not yet have funding or already have funding from another source, when funding from CWR will help improve the chances of success of the project and/or help speed patient impact.

For more information, visit Cures Within Reach.