Stroke Preclinical Assessment Network (SPAN) to Support Translational Studies for Acute Cerebroprotection- Interventions from Small Businesses (U44 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | RFA NS 22 067

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA NS 22 067

The Stroke Preclinical Assessment Network (SPAN) funding opportunity (RFA-NS-22-067) is an NIH National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) initiative designed to help small businesses move promising stroke therapies through a rigorous, network-based preclinical testing pathway. It specifically supports Phase II SBIR projects under a U44 cooperative agreement mechanism, and it is focused on acute cerebroprotection for ischemic stroke. The central idea is to take interventions that already look highly promising based on strong preliminary evidence and evaluate them in a standardized, collaborative testing program that is meant to better predict which candidates are most likely to succeed in later, pivotal clinical trials. Clinical trials are not allowed under this announcement, and the work is centered on preclinical experimental stroke models.

The scientific focus is on cerebroprotective drugs or other interventions that would be administered prior to reperfusion or right around the time reperfusion occurs. This aligns with modern stroke care, where restoring blood flow (for example, through thrombectomy or thrombolysis) is common, but reperfusion can also trigger secondary injury processes. SPAN is meant to evaluate therapies that can limit brain damage in that critical window, improving outcomes beyond what reperfusion alone can accomplish. The network anticipates testing up to about eight interventions in parallel, using established ischemic stroke models such as transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAo), which is a widely used model for mimicking key features of human ischemic stroke and reperfusion injury.

A key feature of this opportunity is that awardees do not operate in isolation. Funded principal investigators effectively join the SPAN consortium and are expected to collaborate closely with several coordinated components: the SPAN Coordinating Center (supported under a companion announcement), the designated preclinical testing laboratories (also supported through companion funding), and other intervention contributors funded through related FOAs. This cooperative structure is intended to bring consistency and transparency to study design, execution, analysis, and reporting, which directly addresses a long-standing challenge in stroke therapeutics where many candidates have shown promise in early academic studies but failed to translate when moved toward clinical testing. By using a network that can run harmonized studies across multiple sites and compare candidates side by side, SPAN aims to generate decision-quality data more efficiently than traditional, one-off preclinical projects.

To be competitive, applicants are expected to bring a cerebroprotective intervention that is already supported by rigorous and extensive preliminary data. In practical terms, the program is not meant for early discovery or speculative ideas; it is meant for interventions that are sufficiently mature that a structured, higher-confidence preclinical assessment is the logical next step on the path toward human trials. If an intervention performs well within SPAN, the broader goal is to de-risk and accelerate its progression into later-stage development and eventual clinical evaluation, effectively creating a clearer pipeline from small-business innovation to clinically actionable stroke therapies. The announcement also frames this as a cost- and time-effective approach because the network infrastructure reduces duplication of effort and promotes standardized methods rather than each developer building its own independent preclinical testing ecosystem.

Eligibility is limited to small businesses, consistent with the SBIR program. Foreign institutions are not eligible to apply, and non-U.S. components of U.S. organizations are also not eligible to apply under this FOA. However, foreign components as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement may be allowed, which typically means certain discrete elements of the work could potentially be performed outside the U.S. if they meet NIH policy requirements and are well-justified, even though the applicant organization itself must be U.S.-based and eligible. The funding instrument is a cooperative agreement, which generally means NIH expects to have substantial programmatic involvement compared with a standard grant, fitting the networked nature of SPAN.

From an administrative standpoint, this opportunity sits within NIH’s health research portfolio (CFDA 93.853). The original closing date listed for the opportunity was July 28, 2022, and an award ceiling of $300,000 is provided in the summary information. Overall, the program is best understood as a translational bridge: it is meant to connect small business-developed cerebroprotective candidates with a disciplined, multi-site preclinical evaluation framework, producing robust evidence to identify which interventions truly warrant the cost and risk of future pivotal clinical trials in acute ischemic stroke.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Stroke Preclinical Assessment Network (SPAN) to Support Translational Studies for Acute Cerebroprotection- Interventions from Small Businesses (U44 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.853.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2022-05-24.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2022-07-28. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $300,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Small businesses.

Apply for RFA NS 22 067

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