HEAL Initiative (STTR Program)

HEAL Initiative (STTR Program) is sponsored by National Institutes of Health (NIH). The HEAL (Helping to End Addiction Long-term) Initiative, part of NIH, offers grants through its STTR program to small businesses developing medical tools and technologies related to pain management.

NIH Helping to End Addiction Long-term® Initiative (HEAL) | Grants & Funding U.S. Department of Health and Human Services National Institutes of Health NIH Helping to End Addiction Long-term® Initiative (HEAL) Additional Information by Funding Category The NIH HEAL Initiative® was launched in April 2018 to accelerate scientific solutions to address the national overdose crisis , including opioid and stimulant use disorders and pain.

HEAL research addresses urgent unmet needs across the lifespan – from infancy to adulthood. It encompasses prevention, treatment, and recovery support approaches for people at risk for or with substance use disorders, and the prevention and management of pain. The overarching goal of the initiative is to develop evidence-based strategies capable of providing rapid and lasting solutions to the opioid overdose crisis.

Develop and test novel prevention, treatment, and recovery strategies for opioid use disorder (OUD), other substance use disorders (SUDs), and overdoses. Support research to characterize long-term trajectories and outcomes for individuals with OUD, including those associated with recovery, and the factors that impact these outcomes. Evaluate the potential of existing therapeutics for conditions that share neural circuitry with OUD.

Advance research to prevent and treat polysubstance use disorders (PolySUD) and drug overdoses. Develop prevention interventions for high-risk populations impacted by the overdose crisis. Utilize data, monitoring, technology, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to identify and inform the deployment of interventions for populations at high-risk of opioid use and overdose.

Advance integrated models of care to address OUD and psychiatric and medical co-morbidities, including management of severe chronic pain in patients with OUD. Address treatment and recovery challenges associated with OUD co-morbidities and with polysubstance misuse.

Integrate existing and newly generated data to advance data science in OUD and overdoses, including for the identification of risk biomarkers, predictive models of treatment responses, and new -therapeutic targets. Optimize clinical data standards to help advance AI and other research analysis tools toward addressing the challenges of OUD, overdoses and chronic pain management.

Develop mechanistically varied and highly efficacious therapeutics for the treatment of pain, also expanding to include non-drug approaches, such as neuromodulation, behavioral therapies, exercise, and acupuncture. Discover and validate treatment targets for pain that have little or no risk of substance use disorders.

Develop highly predictive disease-specific pain models and new approach methodologies (NAMs) that are more predictive of human pain conditions to accelerate efficacious, nonaddictive pain therapeutic development. Develop pain prevention strategies to reduce risk of chronic pain across the lifespan, particularly during key transitions across the life course.

Develop biomarkers for predicting treatment response, safety, target engagement and/or that may serve as surrogate endpoints in clinical trials. Evaluate the efficacy of individualized, mechanism-based treatment approaches that consider a person’s specific biological, psychological, and social traits underlying chronic pain conditions, thus improving treatment outcomes. Visit https://www.

nih. gov/heal for more information. Assistance listings are detailed public descriptions of federal programs used across government agencies that provide grants, loans, scholarships, insurance, and other types of assistance awards.

They are maintained in the System for Award Management (SAM) and can be used to search for opportunities in Grants. gov . View HEAL Assistance Listing Numbers 93.

279 - Drug Use and Addiction Research Programs 93. 853 - Extramural Research Programs in the Neurosciences and Neurological Disorders 93. DAH - National Institute on Drug Abuse Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative 93.

HEA - The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) Helping to End Addiction Long-term® (HEAL) Initiative HEAL Grant Funding Opportunity Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts Additional Information by Funding Category Administrative Supplements In addition to our Administrative Supplements overview, consider the following HEAL-specific information.

Administrative Supplement Interest Areas: HEAL recommends interested applicants reach out to their current program officer as listed on the Notice of Award for the most recent parent award to discuss whether a supplement request would be appropriate. Administrative Supplement Due Dates: HEAL accepts administrative supplement requests on a rolling basis. The final submission date for each fiscal year is July 1.

Contact the program officer listed on the Notice of Award for the most recent parent award to discuss timing considerations. Administrative Supplement Contact: Contact the program officer listed on the Notice of Award for the most recent parent award. In addition to our Small Business overview, consider the following HEAL-specific information.

Small Business Interest Areas: HEAL-funded SBIR/STTR projects focus specifically on developing innovative and commercially viable technologies and products to prevent, diagnose, and treat pain, substance use disorders, and overdose. Research includes development of small molecules, antibodies, gene therapy, therapeutic and diagnostic devices, assays, and other technologies.

Also of interest are projects developing digital health products, pain models, research tools, health information technology, new approach methodologies (NAMs), as well as education/training-focused products and services. SBIR/STTR applications are assigned to NIH ICOs according to ICO mission alignment. HEAL provides funding to support SBIR/STTR applications that meet HEAL SBIR/STTR Interest Areas.

HEAL recommends interested applicants review additional Small Business Information within NIH ICO profiles. This includes reviewing specific guidance on Budget Guidelines and Considerations, Phase IIB and Commercialization Readiness Pilot (CRP) Programs, and Clinical Trials within the Small Business Information page of the primary ICO assigned to the application.

Approved Topics for Awards Over Statutory Budget Guidelines: Applicants should refer to the Small Business Information page of the primary ICO assigned to the application.

Phase IIB & Commercialization Readiness Pilot (CRP): HEAL does not accept Phase IIB SBIR projects HEAL does not accept Commercialization Readiness Pilot (CRP) projects HEAL does not accept clinical trials through the SBIR programs HEAL does not accept clinical trials through the STTR programs HEAL does not accept clinical trials through the Phase IIB SBIR program HEAL does not accept clinical trials through the Commercialization Readiness Pilot (CRP) NIDA Office of Translational Initiatives and Program Innovations (OTIPI) NINDS Small Business Program Just getting started and want to discuss your research idea?

Use Matchmaker to find relevant NIH program officials. Enter your draft specific aims, abstract, or other scientific text and choose the "Similar Program Officials" option. The search results list matching funding ICOs and NIH program officials.

Reach out to best match first, and don't worry if it's not a perfect fit. They can direct you to who is. Learn more in the Matchmaker Tool Video Tutorial .

Already applied or received an award? Reach out to the contacts listed in the Status section of eRA Commons for your application or award. Still not sure who to talk to?

Use the email addresses listed in each of the funding category sections above. For technical issues E-mail OER Webmaster