CCRP Initiative: Countermeasures Against Chemical Threats (CounterACT) Therapeutics Discovery and Early-Stage Development (UG3/UH3 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

The Countermeasures Against Chemical Threats (CounterACT) Therapeutics Discovery and Early-Stage Development is an initiative of the CCRP that aims to provide funding for research in the early stages of developing medicinal therapies. These therapies are meant to counteract the harmful effects on health from toxic chemical exposure.

Toxic chemicals are considered threats when they have potential to be used in terrorist attacks or unintentionally released during industrial processing, storage, or shipping. Such chemicals consist of specific chemical warfare agents, toxic industrial chemicals, pesticides, and certain pharmaceutical agents.

The Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) under this initiative invites applications for projects focused on verifying the effectiveness of therapeutic targets and carrying out preclinical characterization of primary compounds.

The initiative includes two phases. The UG3 phase concentrates on the validation of therapeutic targets and characterization of initial lead compounds. The subsequent UH3 phase consists of refining the candidate and demonstrating its activity and efficacy through in vivo testing in relevant post-exposure models.

By the end of the UG3/UH3 funding period, the initiative anticipates that each project would produce at least one fully characterized therapeutic candidate for addressing toxic chemical exposures.