Pre-application for the NIH-Industry Program: Discovering New Therapeutic Uses for Existing Molecules (X02) | RFA TR 17 001

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA TR 17 001

The Pre-application for the NIH-Industry Program: Discovering New Therapeutic Uses for Existing Molecules (X02) (Funding Opportunity Number RFA-TR-17-001) is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) discretionary grant opportunity focused on drug repositioning, meaning finding new therapeutic uses for existing pharmaceutical compounds. The central purpose of the program, referred to as the New Therapeutic Uses (NTU) program, is to accelerate the development of potential treatments by pairing biomedical researchers with selected industry-held assets (such as previously developed molecules) so investigators can test credible, science-driven ideas for new disease indications. Rather than starting from scratch with entirely new drug discovery, this initiative aims to move faster by leveraging existing molecules and the data already generated around them, with the practical goal of identifying promising new treatments that could ultimately benefit patients.

A key feature of this opportunity is the partnership structure it is designed to enable. The NTU program is explicitly built to support efficient three-way collaborations among academia, government, and pharmaceutical partners. In practice, that means NIH is facilitating a framework where investigators in the research community can access a curated set of compounds or related resources from pharmaceutical companies and pursue repositioning studies under a coordinated partnership model. The underlying idea is that industry may have molecules that were shelved for strategic reasons or that did not succeed for an original indication, but that could still be valuable for other conditions if matched with the right biological rationale and experimental plan. By creating a formal mechanism for these collaborations, the program seeks to reduce barriers that often slow down cross-sector work, such as access to compounds, alignment on development goals, and coordination across multiple organizations.

The funding instrument is a grant, and the activity area is health. The opportunity is associated with CFDA numbers 93.242 and 93.350. The posted materials describe this announcement as a pre-application (X02), which generally signals an initial submission step used to identify and vet promising project concepts before a later, more detailed application stage. The intent of that pre-application step is typically to streamline selection, ensure projects align with available industry assets, and focus full applications on proposals with strong scientific rationale and feasible partnership paths.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of U.S.-based organizations. Eligible applicants listed include state, county, and city or township governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; Native American tribal organizations other than federally recognized tribal governments; public housing authorities and Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status (excluding institutions of higher education as a category distinction); for-profit organizations other than small businesses; small businesses; and other entities. The opportunity also highlights additional eligible applicant types such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), eligible federal agencies, faith-based or community-based organizations, Hispanic-serving institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Indian/Native American tribal governments other than federally recognized, regional organizations, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), and U.S. territories or possessions.

At the same time, the announcement places clear limits on non-U.S. participation. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities and non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are stated as not eligible to apply under this opportunity. However, it allows foreign components as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, meaning a U.S. applicant organization may include certain foreign elements within the overall project when permitted and appropriately justified under NIH policy, even though a foreign institution cannot be the direct applicant.

The key dates and administrative details provided indicate the opportunity was created on 2017-02-15, with an original closing date of 2017-04-17. An award ceiling and expected number of awards are not specified in the provided source data, suggesting those details were either not set, not publicly posted in the excerpt, or handled through program-specific selection processes tied to available assets and partner capacity.

Overall, this X02 pre-application opportunity is best understood as an entry point into an NIH-facilitated drug repurposing pipeline, where the main deliverable at this stage is a strong, testable concept for a new use of an existing molecule, aligned with the program's collaborative model. The program is aimed at enabling researchers to quickly evaluate new indications for compounds already developed within industry, strengthening translational research by combining academic innovation, NIH coordination, and pharmaceutical assets to move potential therapies toward clinical relevance more efficiently.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Pre-application for the NIH-Industry Program: Discovering New Therapeutic Uses for Existing Molecules (X02)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.242, 93.350.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2017-02-15.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2017-04-17. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

Apply for RFA TR 17 001

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