How to Apply

Overview

The NCI Experimental Therapeutics (NExT) pipeline is designed to assist translation to the clinic of novel therapeutic interventions, either synthetic, natural product, or biologic, arising from academic, private, or government entities. NExT is not a grant mechanism. Approved proposals gain access to drug discovery resources and development resources through the NExT Program. A panel of experts will evaluate the applications based on criteria including scientific merit, feasibility, alignment with NCI mission, novelty, and clinical need. The NExT Program will send notification letters informing applicants of the evaluation result of their proposals four to six months after their submission deadline. For more information, see Instructions to applicants.

Please Note: Applicants who are requesting early discovery resources should be aware that such resourcing is done via the NCI’s Chemical Biology Consortium (CBC). Applicants whose projects are approved will be invited to join the CBC and are expected to become signatories to the CBC Participants Agreement. If you are submitting an early discovery NExT Program application, you are expected to have read and understood the referenced agreement and to have contacted your institution’s or company’s Technology Transfer Office to make certain that your organization is willing to accept the terms of this agreement.

Applicants may also apply for access to the NExT Diversity Library for their screening activities. These applications will also undergo the evaluation process.

Application submissions occur in cycles and open (regardless of holidays or weekends) on January 15th, May 15th and September 15th of each calendar year and close one month later on February 15th, June 15th and October 15th.

Applications are due by 5:00 PM Eastern Time on the deadline dates. Applications will not be accepted after the deadline. Applicants are advised to finalize submission of their proposals prior to the deadline date.

All proposals must be submitted online via the proposalCENTRAL site. Please note that the Principal Investigator (the Applicant) is responsible for final submission.

Applicants should expect a timeline of up to 4 months, from the close of a given application cycle, to receive a notification on the outcome of the review.