RFP: Accelerating Drug Discovery For Frontotemporal Degeneration

The grant program, in partnership between the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) and The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration (AFTD), is designed to expedite the development of small molecule and biologic drug programs for Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD). With no current FDA approved disease-modifying treatments for FTD, this request for proposals (RFP) seeks to push forward the discovery and optimization of novel, disease-modifying therapies. The funding priorities include lead optimization of compounds and in vivo testing of novel lead compounds, biologics, vaccines, or repurposed drugs in relevant animal models, aimed at refining these treatments’ effectiveness and safety before moving towards clinical trials. Key areas of interest for drug targets involve inflammation, proteostasis, autophagy, epigenetics, genetic causes of disease, misfolded proteins, mitochondria and metabolic function, neuroprotection, synaptic activity & neurotransmitters, RNA metabolism and splicing, among others. The program explicitly outlines that it does not support target identification, validation, or high-throughput screenings but is aimed at more advanced stages of drug development. The grant offers an average duration of 1 year with potential for follow-on funding, and awards typically range from $300,000 to $350,000.