6 October 2017 - The U.S. FDA today announced that it has awarded 15 new clinical trial research grants totalling more than $22 million over the next four years to boost the development of products for patients with rare diseases. 

These new grants were awarded to principal investigators from academia and industry across the country.

“Given the often small number of patients facing certain rare diseases, there can be limited resources devoted to researching new drugs and unique challenges with recruiting and conducting the clinical trials needed to develop medicines targeted to rare conditions,” said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D. “For more than 30 years, the FDA has been committed to investing in trials of potentially life-changing treatments for patients with rare diseases, especially in situations where commercial incentives may not be enough to foster the collection of quality data that can ultimately support efficient development and FDA-approval of treatments for patients who lack effective alternatives. By helping to support the cost of development of these potential new drugs, and reduce some of the financial risk, we also hope that these grants will lower the cost of the capital needed to develop these products, boost competition and translate into lower prices for successful medicines. This can help increase access to resulting therapies.”

Read FDA press release