Pfizer Inc. is pleased to announce the call for proposals for the 4th Global Awards for Advancing Chronic Pain Research (ADVANCE) competitive grants program.
Our mission is to fund innovative, novel research proposals that seek to advance the understanding and management of chronic pain.
Proposals will be reviewed by an external multidisciplinary, Expert Review Panel comprising renowned, global experts in chronic pain. Proposals will be reviewed based on area of interest, originality, scientific merit, and feasibility.
A total of US $500,000 will be available to fund research proposals of up to US $150,000.
Click on the tabs opposite for full details of the types and areas of eligible research, applicant eligibility criteria, deadlines, and how to apply.
The deadline for submission is September 22, 2021 (by 11:59 pm Eastern Daylight Time in the United States).
Areas of research that are considered in-scope for an ADVANCE research grant, with the condition of interest being osteoarthritis (OA) and chronic pain associated with OA, will include studies that aim to advance the understanding of the following.
- Evaluation of unmet medical needs in pain management associated with OA 1 as follows:
- Benefit-risk assessment and patient preference in the choice of pain medication for patients with comorbid conditions (e.g., cardiovascular disease or history of substance abuse)
- How risks associated with long-term use of analgesics are assessed currently 2
- Treatment of chronic pain in special populations (e.g., postsurgical, elderly)
- Evaluation of multi-disciplinary approaches to management of OA (e.g., physical therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy [CBT]) and their combination with pharmacological treatment 3-5
- Understand and predict response to treatment, 6,7 disease state, and course of OA (normal and rapid trajectories) 8-10
- Approaches to improving adherence to therapy or therapeutic regimes for pain associated with OA 11,12
- Use of patient characteristics such as biomarkers or other objective evaluations (e.g., quantitative sensory testing [QST], imaging modalities) in the assessment and management of OA to better understand disease course 13-16
- Evaluation of improved function
- How changes of physical function are assessed in clinical practice in patients with OA, and how current physical function assessment could be improved 17-20
- How individual goal setting can contribute to treatment outcome (including pain and function) 21
- What impact the improved physical function has on the patients’ quality of life 22
- The Principal Investigator holds a doctoral degree (MD, PhD, PharmD, or equivalent). Proposals should have one Principal Investigator but can include multiple co-investigators.
- Investigators must be affiliated with an academic or medical institution.
- Research must be conducted in accordance with local regulatory, legal, and ethical guidelines, including posting on a clinical trial registry where appropriate. Pfizer Inc. assumes no responsibility for the conduct of the selected studies.
- The Principal Investigator is not receiving or will not receive funding from other pharmaceutical companies for the submitted research proposal.
- Proposals must be submitted in English.
- The maximum amount of funding requested for your project is no more than US $150,000. Budgets must be submitted in US $. Total budget includes direct costs (eg, labor and study costs), administrative costs to the institution associated with the conduct of the research funded by the grant, and any other costs (eg, additional expenses such as software fees and travel costs).