OpenResearch announcementOpportunity PAR-25-442

Expanding the Target Landscape by Drugging the Undruggable (R21 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

National Institutes of Health · Department of Health and Human Services

At a glance

Expanding the Target Landscape by Drugging the Undruggable (R21 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) is an open federal grant opportunity from the National Institutes of Health (Department of Health and Human Services). Applications are due February 17, 2028. Applicant types listed as eligible include state governments, county governments, city or township governments, special district governments, independent school districts and 10 more. Cost sharing is not required. It is funded under Assistance Listing 93.121 (Oral Diseases and Disorders Research) and 5 other listings.

Summary assembled from the official notice's fields. The official notice governs.

Key facts

Jun 17, 2025Posted
Feb 17, 2028Application deadlinenext date
Jul 16, 2026 (est.)Est. award date
Mar 24, 2028Archived

Posted: Jun 17, 2025
Close date: Feb 17, 2028
Archive date: Mar 24, 2028
Est. award date: Jul 16, 2026
Award floor: Not specified
Award ceiling: Not specified
Est. total funding: Not specified
Expected awards: Not specified
Cost sharing: Not required
Funding instrument: Grant
Opportunity category: Discretionary

Typical awards for this program (SAM.gov listing for ALN 93.121, not this notice): FY2023: research project grants: range $10,355-$3,198,621, average $493,453; NRSA: range $12,200-$645,669, average $102,286; SBIR/STTR: range $44,553-$1,265,448, average $734,953; Career development: range $19,566-$283,536, average $151,550. FY2024: research project grants: range $14,491-$3,134,285, average $499,286; NRSA: range $2,500-$689,065, average $117,487; SBIR/STTR: range $44,553-$1,493,635, average $721,489; Career development: range $12,905-$282,170, average $156,332.

Who can apply

State governments
County governments
City or township governments
Special district governments
Independent school districts
Public colleges & universities
Federally recognized tribal governments
Public & Indian housing authorities
Native American tribal organizations
501(c)(3) nonprofits
Nonprofits without 501(c)(3) status
Private colleges & universities
For-profit organizations (not small businesses)
Small businesses
Others (see notice)

Additional information on eligibility (from the notice)

Other Eligible Applicants include the following: Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions; Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISISs); Eligible Agencies of the Federal Government; 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) ; U.S. Territory or Possession; Non-domestic (non-U.S.) Entities (Foreign Organizations) are not eligible to apply.Non-domestic (non-U.S.) components of U.S. Organizations are not eligible to apply.Foreign components, as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, are not allowed.

Can your organization apply?

A quick check against the listed applicant types — other requirements in the notice still apply.

Based on the published notice. Review the official notice for complete eligibility requirements.

What it funds

Official synopsis as published by the agency, formatted for readability.

The purpose of this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is to solicit applications for exploratory and early-stage projects that focus on undruggable target classes within intractable human disease. Applicants will identify a human disease relevant undruggable target class and develop a method or agent that is selective for one or more targets within that target class. This NOFO is intended to jumpstart research that demonstrates innovative strategies to modulate targets that cannot be addressed by established therapeutic types, furthering the development of methods and/or agents selective for undruggable target classes.

Additional information from the agency ↗

Full announcement & documents

The full announcement has the complete rules — page limits, required attachments, evaluation criteria and any letter-of-intent dates. Files download directly from Grants.gov.

PAR-25-442 Full Announcement TextFull Announcement · PAR-25-442-Full-Announcement.htmlHTML · 1 KB

How to apply

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Read the full announcement (NOFO)Eligibility, evaluation criteria, page limits and required attachments are in the full notice on Grants.gov. Open ↗
Confirm eligibility and fitCheck your organization type above; no cost sharing is required.
Register (or renew) in SAM.gov and get a UEIFree. New registrations can take several weeks; registrations must be renewed every year. Open ↗
Set up Grants.gov accessCreate a Grants.gov account and make sure someone has the Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) role. Open ↗
Open the application packageUse opportunity number PAR-25-442 on Grants.gov (Grants.gov Workspace). Open ↗
Prepare narrative, budget and attachmentsFollow the notice's format exactly — page limits and required forms are common reasons applications are rejected.
Ask the agency contact any questions earlyNational Institutes of Health · grantsinfo@nih.gov Open ↗
Submit before February 17, 2028Submit a few days early and keep your Grants.gov confirmation and validation emails.

Assistance Listings

What is an ALN?

Reported obligations under ALN 93.121

Historical data · not a prediction

FY24

$320M

FY25

$332M

FY26

$337M est.

Source: SAM.gov Assistance Listing 93.121. Program-wide totals, not awards from this specific opportunity.

Agency contact (as published)

National Institutes of Health
grantsinfo@nih.gov
301-402-2541

Quick answers

When is the deadline for this opportunity?

According to the official notice, applications are due February 17, 2028. Confirm the deadline and submission time on Grants.gov before applying.

Who is eligible to apply for this opportunity?

The official notice lists these applicant types as eligible: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public colleges & universities, Federally recognized tribal governments, Public & Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations, 501(c)(3) nonprofits, Nonprofits without 501(c)(3) status, Private colleges & universities and 3 more. Additional restrictions may apply; review the full notice.

How do I apply for this opportunity?

Applications are submitted through the official source, not through GrantsJunction. Open the official notice on Grants.gov (opportunity PAR-25-442), and review the full announcement and application package. Organizations applying through Grants.gov generally need an active SAM.gov registration and a Grants.gov account, which can take several weeks to set up.

Matched on shared Assistance Listings, agency, categories and eligible applicant types.

OpenResearchALN 93.113, 93.121…