← All grants

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

National Institutes of Health · Opportunity PAR-25-442

Deadline February 17, 2028 526 days left
Award range Not stated
Total program funding
PostedJune 17, 2025

Who can apply

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.

About this opportunity

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.

Award history — this exact opportunity

NIH RePORTER lists 9 funded awards under PAR-25-442 across 9 organizations.

Awards by fiscal year 2026: 9
Award size (min / median / max) $223k / $430k / $536k

Total award obligations, not per-year amounts.

Recent awardees include: STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT ALBANY, SCRIPPS RESEARCH INSTITUTE, THE, WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, INDIANA UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS, UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, TUFTS UNIVERSITY MEDFORD, EMORY UNIVERSITY, SANFORD BURNHAM PREBYS MEDICAL DISCOVERY INSTITUTE.

Source: NIH RePORTER, matched on the exact opportunity number. NIH publishes success rates by institute and activity code — source.

Portfolio context — this listing covers more than this opportunity

This opportunity is funded under Assistance Listing 93.121 (“Oral Diseases and Disorders Research”), a broad federal program that made about 300 new awards per year over the last five fiscal years (median award $438k). Those figures describe that whole portfolio — not this specific solicitation, so we don't show them as if they were this opportunity's track record.

Applicant counts per solicitation are not published by any federal agency — no one can honestly sell you that number. NIH publishes success rates by institute and activity code — source.

Apply on grants.gov →

Don't want to hunt for grants like this one? Get free deadline alerts for your state and focus areas.

Consultant or grant writer? See the client-ready Opportunity Brief for this grant — actual award sizes vs. the advertised ceiling, who wins, printable "prepared for your client" version.

Similar grants still open

OpportunityAgencyDeadlineAward ceilingEligible
NIH Director’s Pioneer Award (DP1 Clinical Trial Optional) National Institutes of Health September 9, 2026 0d left $700k Nonprofits
Fiscal Year 2027 Expanding Nutrition Services Health Resources and Services Administration September 9, 2026 0d left $350k
NIH Director’s Early Independence Award (DP5 Clinical Trial Optional) National Institutes of Health September 10, 2026 1d left $350k Nonprofits
Improving the Capacity of Tribal Communities to Identify Emerging Drug Threats Office of National Drug Control Policy September 13, 2026 4d left $300k Nonprofits