The projects – aimed at treating conditions such as vision loss, neurodegenerative disease and depression – are funded through the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research.
The NIH Blueprint pulls together 15 of the agency’s institutes and centers, leveraging their resources to confront major, cross-cutting challenges in neuroscience research.
The Blueprint Neurotherapeutics Network will serve as a resource enabling investigators to develop new drugs for nervous system disorders and prepare them for clinical trials, and will be funded at up to $50m over five years.
The pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry consultants will assist investigators throughout the drug development process, from chemical optimization, to biological testing, to advancing the drug into early-stage clinical trials.
Each project team will be required to meet a set of interim goals, or milestones, to continue to receive funds and access to Blueprint resources.
NIH National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) director Story Landis said the Blueprint Neurotherapeutics Network will pair neuroscientists with experts in therapy development, and enable them to pursue their ideas for new drugs without having to redirect the focus of their laboratories.
Blueprint Neurotherapeutics Network lead contact and Translational Research NINDS Office program director Jill Heemskerk said the investigators will retain intellectual property rights for any drugs they develop through the network.