Chemical Screening and Optimization Facility (X01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | PAR 23 193

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 23 193

The Chemical Screening and Optimization Facility (X01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed), funding opportunity number PAR 23-193 (CFDA 93.865), is a discretionary NIH grant mechanism run through the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). It is centered on giving research teams access to NICHDs in-house, state-of-the-art chemical synthesis and optimization capabilities to move promising ideas in contraception and reproductive health toward a credible preclinical development package. The emphasis is on non-hormonal contraceptive development, but the scope also includes other reproductive health related product concepts where there is a plausible path to a safe therapeutic option. The program is explicitly not for clinical trials, and instead focuses on the kind of preclinical work that helps determine whether a concept is strong enough, safe enough, and well-characterized enough to justify later IND or IDE planning.

A key feature of this opportunity is that it is designed as a facility-enabled pathway for translation, meaning the value is not only in direct funding but in access to specialized services and infrastructure that can be difficult for many academic or early-stage groups to build on their own. The NICHD Chemical Synthesis and Optimization Facility supports a broad range of IND- or IDE-enabling preclinical activities, which can include protein generation to support assay development and target validation, X-ray crystallography to clarify binding interactions and guide rational design, high throughput screening to identify initial hits, structure-activity relationship work to systematically improve potency and selectivity, hit-to-lead generation to turn early screening results into more viable lead series, and drug metabolism-related studies to understand stability, exposure, and other properties that influence whether a molecule can realistically become a drug candidate. In practical terms, the program is meant to help applicants answer the development-critical questions: what is the best chemical series to pursue, what modifications improve performance, what liabilities emerge as compounds are optimized, and what data are needed to credibly support a next-stage regulatory path.

The long-term objective described in the announcement is to enable at least one preclinical candidate that is suitable for IND and/or IDE study planning, with the ultimate goal of delivering a safe therapeutic option in contraception and/or reproductive health indications. That goal is framed with realistic constraints: actual project support is dependent on contractor availability and available funding, which signals that timelines and the exact services performed may be shaped by facility capacity and prioritization. Even so, the intent is clearly to reduce the technical and resource barriers between early discovery and a development-ready preclinical candidate by pairing applicants with a dedicated optimization and screening environment.

Eligibility is broad and includes a wide range of domestic and international 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; other Native American tribal organizations (including those other than federally recognized governments); public housing authorities and Indian housing authorities; nonprofit organizations with and without 501(c)(3) status (excluding institutions of higher education where applicable); for-profit organizations other than small businesses; small businesses; and other entities. The opportunity also calls out additional eligible categories such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISISs), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), faith-based or community-based organizations, eligible federal agencies, regional organizations, U.S. territories or possessions, and non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities and foreign organizations. Taken together, that eligibility language signals an interest in drawing from diverse institutional types and geographies, including organizations that may be closer to community needs, public health priorities, or under-resourced research ecosystems.

Administratively, the sponsor agency is the National Institutes of Health, and the opportunity remains open with an original closing date of 2026-04-03. The posting information indicates this opportunity was created on 2023-05-19. While the notice does not specify an award ceiling or expected number of awards in the provided text, the overall structure suggests that the main deliverable is progress toward a rigorously supported preclinical candidate through the facilitys screening, synthesis, and optimization pipeline rather than a traditional open-ended research project.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health, income security and social services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Chemical Screening and Optimization Facility (X01 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): 93.865.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2023-05-19.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2026-04-03. (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 PAR 23 193

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: