Drug Delivery
Faculty Starter Grant

Successful proposals in Drug Delivery emphasize the quantitative understanding of the principles, pathways, and/or mechanisms underlying improved or optimized:

• formulation composition and delivery modalities/technologies that enable more favorable transport (absorption, targeting, elimination) of drugs; and/or
• drug dosage forms that can be manufactured to achieve higher quality, lower cost, and greater stability or flexibility.

Today’s drugs include biologics, small molecules, and cell and gene therapy. Delivering increasingly complex drugs demands thorough understanding of technologies and formulation approaches.

Research that focuses on findings that can be generalized to other systems will be prioritized. Testing the delivery of a single drug by one approach is less preferred.

• Applicants (U.S. and non-U.S. citizens) must be full-time, promotion-eligible, research-intensive faculty at a PhD and/or MS degree-granting accredited U.S. university.
• Applicants must be within the first five years of independent status.
• Applicants must be eligible to apply for independent external research funding by their university.
• Applicants should not have other substantial sources of research funding. Individuals receiving only intramural funding or start-up funding from their university are eligible to apply. (Applicants are ineligible if they are the principal investigator of an R01 from the National Institutes of Health or a career award from the National Science Foundation.)
• The Foundation will not consider multiple applications for similar efforts on the same project. For instance, if a predoc, postdoc, and faculty member from the same lab are all submitting applications for proposed efforts on the same project, the efforts must be separate activities and not duplicative.

• The PhRMA Foundation Faculty Starter Grant in Drug Delivery provides funding of $100,000 for one year.
• Funding is conditional upon the awardee’s continued employment with the university, which will be assessed on a quarterly basis prior to payment. Awardees are required to notify the PhRMA Foundation if they leave the university. Payments will be made directly to the university on behalf of the awardee, with the understanding the university will administer the funds.
• Funds must be used to conduct the proposed research. Funds may not be used for salary support of the awardee, fringe benefits, or indirect costs.
• Funds may be budgeted to include the support of a technician, graduate student, or postdoctoral fellow at an hourly rate. The funds may not be used to provide tuition, fringe benefits, or indirect costs for said personnel. Said personnel may not be an active award recipient of the PhRMA Foundation.
• Up to $1,500 may be used for travel by the awardee to professional meetings in the United States.
• Funds may be used to purchase equipment and/or data to support the research efforts.
• Funding may begin as early as January 1, 2024, or on the first day of any month thereafter, up to and including August 1, 2024.
• A final progress report and financial report will be required within 60 days of the grant’s conclusion.
• Unspent funds are to be returned to the PhRMA Foundation upon the grant’s conclusion.
• Any changes to the proposed project must be approved by the PhRMA Foundation.
• If other funding becomes available during the grant, the PhRMA Foundation must be notified.
• Funds are non-transferable.

The deadline to apply for 2024 awards has passed. 2024 award recipients will be notified by December 15, 2023. The application portal for 2025 awards will open in March 2024.

To start a letter of intent, go to the ProposalCentral website at proposalcentral.com. If you are a new user of ProposalCentral, follow the link “Create an Account” and complete the registration process. If you are already a registered user, login with your username and password. If you have forgotten your password, click the “Forgot your Password?” link.

Once you are logged in, please click the “Professional Profile” tab at the top and complete steps 1-11 or update with your current information. Your name, degrees, position/title, academic rank, department, and address will be pulled from this page in ProposalCentral.

Step 1: Letter of Intent (LOI)

To submit an LOI, select the “Grant Opportunities” tab in ProposalCentral and a list of applications will be displayed. Find “PhRMA Foundation” and click the “Apply Now” link next to the Faculty Starter Grant in Drug Delivery Program.

Candidates must submit a 600-word LOI describing their research project and its aims. In addition to the LOI, please answer the following questions using the Research Impact Questions template provided:

• Explain how your project fits into the PhRMA Foundation’s Drug Delivery Program (see program goals).
• How will this project advance the field?
• What challenges or gaps in the field are you solving?
• How is your project innovative?

The LOI should be written by the applicant on a U.S. letter-sized 8.5” x 11” page with .5” margin and 11-point font. The first use of any abbreviation or acronym should be preceded by the full name or description. Citations and figures do not count toward the 600-word LOI limit.

Those whose submissions are selected will be notified by July 1, 2023, and asked to complete a full application. Full applications are due August 31, 2023, at 12:00 p.m. (noon) EDT, including letters of support.

Step 2: Application Process (by invitation)

The following components will be required if you are invited to submit a full application.

1. Applicant’s Curriculum Vitae (CV) or Biosketch

Preference is for the applicant to submit a biosketch. References, where requested, may submit either a CV or NIH-style biosketch.

2. Extended Letter (personal statement)

This is an opportunity to tell us who you are. Include a synopsis of your career, your professional interests, and your desired career path. The letter should not exceed two single-spaced pages (U.S. letter size 8.5” x 11” / .5” margin / 11-point font).

3. Research Plan

Applicants must prepare a comprehensive research plan, not to exceed eight single-spaced pages. Applicants should use a format similar to the format specified for grants submitted to the National Institutes of Health, including a description of the aims, rationale, research design and methodology, and a bibliography of major references (bibliographies are not included in the page limit). Preliminary results, if any, should also be included.

Clearly identify other principals involved as collaborators in the project, the amount of time they will commit, and the amount of time you will commit. Identify the amount of intramural support available for the proposed project and other research efforts by budget categories and amounts. If the university makes the services of a technician available, note this. Identify the part of the proposal that will be directly initiated or expedited by the Foundation’s funds.

Required type specifications: U.S. letter size 8.5” x 11” / .5” margin / 11-point font (figures may be provided in a smaller font). Submissions that do not meet the specified guidelines for proposal preparation will not be considered for funding.

4. Research Impact Questions

Please reupload your responses to the Research Impact Questions from the LOI stage using the provided template. You may make adjustments to your responses if you choose.

5. Budget

Upload your budget explaining: 1) how the funds will be used and 2) whether the project receives other funding.

6. Other Sources of Funding/Funding Explanation

Upload information about other support this project receives. If no other support, upload a document stating, “No other support has been received or is pending.” Other support includes all financial resources — federal, non-federal, commercial, or institutional — available in direct support of an individual’s research endeavors, including but not limited to research grants, cooperative agreements, contracts, and/or institutional awards. Training awards, prizes, or gifts do not need to be included.

7. Manuscripts/Presentations

You can upload up to three relevant publications in PDF format.

8. References

Please note that the system will not accept your application unless the letters of support have been successfully uploaded. You are required to submit contact information for the following personnel (2-4 references):

• Collaborators, if any
• General reference(s) who are familiar with you and your scientific career

Once you add their name and contact information to your application, an auto-generated email will be forwarded to them. The email will include instructions as to what they should address in their letter of support, and it will provide a personalized hyperlink where they should upload their letter. Letters of support should be uploaded before August 31 so you can submit your application before 12:00 p.m. (noon) ET.

We suggest you inform your references in advance of what items should be addressed in their letter of support.

Collaborator(s) should include:

• Acknowledgment of their commitment, participation, and enthusiasm in the project.
• Their brief biosketch.

General reference(s) should include:

• The period of time you have known the applicant and in what capacity.
• Comment on the applicant’s communication and interpersonal skills, and ability to collaborate with peers on research projects.
• Explanation of how this program will be a productive experience for the applicant and why they should be selected.

REMEMBER to begin your application early so your references have ample time to meet the August 31 deadline. It is your responsibility that these letters are uploaded. The application portal will permit you to review your application and the status of your letters of support before your final submission. Be sure to check it frequently and do not wait until the last minute. The application portal will not permit the application to be submitted until the letters of support have been uploaded.

Application deadline is August 31, 2023, at 12:00 p.m. (noon) EDT. Late submissions will not be accepted.

Award notification is December 15, 2023.