No. PAR-25-442 · National Institutes of Health
Expanding the Target Landscape by Drugging the Undruggable (R21 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
Not reimbursement-only
“Grant: A financial assistance mechanism providing money, property, or both to an eligible entity to carry out an approved project or activity.” — From the announcement
- Award range
- Not specified
- Expected awards
- ~3
- Application deadline
- Feb 17, 2028
- Posted
- Jun 17, 2025
- Last verified
- 8 days ago
At a glance
AI summaryThis program funds exploratory, early-stage preclinical projects that develop a method or agent for currently undruggable target classes in intractable human diseases. It is open to a wide range of U.S. and non-U.S. organizations, including nonprofits, universities, governments, small businesses, and faith-based or community-based organizations, but foreign organizations and foreign components of U.S. organizations are not eligible. Awards are for up to 2 years, with total direct costs up to $275,000 and no more than $200,000 in any single year. No cost sharing is required, and clinical trial proposals are not allowed. Projects with a majority of work focused on cancer are not responsive to this notice.
AI-generated summary — verify against the announcement
What it funds
Official description from grants.gov
The purpose of this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is to solicit applications for exploratory and early-stage projects that focus on undruggable target classes within intractable human disease. Applicants will identify a human disease relevant undruggable target class and develop a method or agent that is selective for one or more targets within that target class. This NOFO is intended to jumpstart research that demonstrates innovative strategies to modulate targets that cannot be addressed by established therapeutic types, furthering the development of methods and/or agents selective for undruggable target classes.
Who can apply
- City or township governments
- County governments
- For-profit organizations other than small businesses
- Independent school districts
- Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized)
- Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized)
- Nonprofits with 501(c)(3) status (other than higher education)
- Nonprofits without 501(c)(3) status (other than higher education)
- Others
- Private institutions of higher education
- Public and State controlled institutions of higher education
- Public housing authorities / Indian housing authorities
- Small businesses
- Special district governments
- State governments
Program history
USASpending.govAssistance listing 93.121 · Oral Diseases and Disorders Research
Real awards this federal program has made — the whole assistance listing (93.121), not just this notice.
| Fiscal year | Awards | Median award | Middle half |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY 2026 (so far) | 155 | $429,000 | $306,500 – $571,863 |
| FY 2025 | 277 | $429,000 | $310,295 – $829,259 |
| FY 2024 | 301 | $491,193 | $310,985 – $1,283,003 |
| FY 2023 | 320 | $444,000 | $298,673 – $1,756,575 |
| FY 2022 | 295 | — | — |
| FY 2021 | 305 | — | — |
Dollar figures are based on the 1,000 most recent awards we store, not all 1,653 — award counts are complete.
- TRUSTEES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, THE $6,128,166 · FY 2023
- THE GENERAL HOSPITAL CORPORATION $4,961,133 · FY 2023
- RESEARCH FOUNDATION OF THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK $4,002,156 · FY 2023
- DANA-FARBER CANCER INSTITUTE, INC. $3,742,682 · FY 2025
- TRUSTEES OF INDIANA UNIVERSITY $3,736,064 · FY 2023
Source: USASpending.gov · refreshed Aug 16, 2026
Assistance listing 93.242 · Mental Health Research Grants
Real awards this federal program has made — the whole assistance listing (93.242), not just this notice.
| Fiscal year | Awards | Median award | Middle half |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY 2026 (so far) | 491 | $451,000 | $167,702 – $811,948 |
| FY 2025 | 600 | $731,738 | $320,544 – $1,460,736 |
| FY 2024 | 883 | — | — |
| FY 2023 | 898 | — | — |
| FY 2022 | 986 | — | — |
| FY 2021 | 945 | — | — |
Dollar figures are based on the 1,000 most recent awards we store, not all 4,803 — award counts are complete.
- MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY $21,714,815 · FY 2025
- OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY, THE $19,515,757 · FY 2025
- ALBERT EINSTEIN COLLEGE OF MEDICINE $18,270,924 · FY 2025
- DUKE UNIVERSITY $15,039,330 · FY 2025
- ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI $12,007,972 · FY 2026
Source: USASpending.gov · refreshed Aug 6, 2026
Assistance listing 93.350 · National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
Real awards this federal program has made — the whole assistance listing (93.350), not just this notice.
| Fiscal year | Awards | Median award | Middle half |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY 2026 (so far) | 106 | $427,386 | $166,500 – $755,137 |
| FY 2025 | 110 | $427,602 | $178,000 – $1,833,042 |
| FY 2024 | 137 | $463,150 | $176,720 – $2,139,478 |
| FY 2023 | 131 | $363,189 | $155,500 – $3,024,000 |
| FY 2022 | 106 | $438,741 | $156,117 – $1,906,971 |
| FY 2021 | 76 | $324,197 | $28,713 – $1,276,814 |
- ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI $46,369,962 · FY 2022
- TRUSTEES OF TUFTS COLLEGE $44,451,810 · FY 2023
- PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE $43,319,327 · FY 2023
- REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN $39,816,036 · FY 2023
- THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTER $39,349,638 · FY 2021
Source: USASpending.gov · refreshed Aug 30, 2026
Assistance listing 93.855 · Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research
Real awards this federal program has made — the whole assistance listing (93.855), not just this notice.
| Fiscal year | Awards | Median award | Middle half |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY 2026 (so far) | 1,817 | $295,722 | $146,402 – $737,210 |
| FY 2025 | 1,596 | — | — |
| FY 2024 | 1,720 | — | — |
| FY 2023 | 1,711 | — | — |
| FY 2022 | 1,576 | — | — |
| FY 2021 | 1,857 | — | — |
Dollar figures are based on the 1,000 most recent awards we store, not all 10,277 — award counts are complete.
- SCRIPPS RESEARCH INSTITUTE $3,679,976 · FY 2026
- REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO, THE $3,499,366 · FY 2026
- UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON $3,414,775 · FY 2026
- UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA $3,389,992 · FY 2026
- ALBERT EINSTEIN COLLEGE OF MEDICINE $3,204,071 · FY 2026
Source: USASpending.gov · refreshed Aug 23, 2026
Assistance listing 93.865 · Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research
Real awards this federal program has made — the whole assistance listing (93.865), not just this notice.
| Fiscal year | Awards | Median award | Middle half |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY 2026 (so far) | 386 | $392,826 | $79,188 – $593,582 |
| FY 2025 | 665 | $452,972 | $178,000 – $1,225,547 |
| FY 2024 | 785 | — | — |
| FY 2023 | 835 | — | — |
| FY 2022 | 799 | — | — |
| FY 2021 | 764 | — | — |
Dollar figures are based on the 1,000 most recent awards we store, not all 4,234 — award counts are complete.
- PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE $16,115,056 · FY 2025
- UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI $15,385,183 · FY 2025
- UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON $6,635,347 · FY 2025
- GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY (THE) $5,117,920 · FY 2025
- RESEARCH TRIANGLE INSTITUTE $4,847,747 · FY 2025
Source: USASpending.gov · refreshed Aug 23, 2026
Assistance listing 93.867 · Vision Research
Real awards this federal program has made — the whole assistance listing (93.867), not just this notice.
| Fiscal year | Awards | Median award | Middle half |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY 2026 (so far) | 189 | $440,263 | $132,837 – $633,742 |
| FY 2025 | 309 | $464,903 | $260,661 – $1,026,742 |
| FY 2024 | 408 | $630,967 | $342,920 – $1,431,708 |
| FY 2023 | 401 | $771,099 | $422,359 – $1,867,311 |
| FY 2022 | 391 | — | — |
| FY 2021 | 394 | — | — |
Dollar figures are based on the 1,000 most recent awards we store, not all 2,092 — award counts are complete.
- UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO $8,283,963 · FY 2024
- REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO, THE $5,256,090 · FY 2023
- OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY, THE $4,539,043 · FY 2025
- ALLEN INSTITUTE $4,260,011 · FY 2025
- THE GENERAL HOSPITAL CORPORATION $4,026,010 · FY 2024
Source: USASpending.gov · refreshed Aug 23, 2026