Biomedical Catalyst 2020: round 1, early and late stage awards

UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £30 million to develop innovative healthcare products, technologies and processes.

These can include, for example:

• disease prevention and proactive management of health and chronic conditions
• earlier and better detection and diagnosis of disease, leading to better patient outcomes
• tailored treatments that either change the underlying disease or offer potential cures

This competition combines the early and late stage strands of the Biomedical Catalyst.

Your project must:

• have total eligible costs between £250,000 and £4 million
• start on 1 March 2021
• end by 29 February 2024
• last between 12 months and 36 months

To lead a project or work alone your organisation must:

• be a UK registered micro, small or medium-sized enterprise SME or a research and technology organisation (RTO)
• carry out its project work in the UK
• intend to exploit the results from or in the UK

If the lead organisation is an RTO you must collaborate with at least one SME.

Academic institutions cannot lead or work alone.

The aim of this early and late stage competition is to enable companies to create a data package that can support the subsequent testing of their products, or to carry out evaluations in a clinical setting or other relevant environment.

Testing can include:

• experimental evaluation (at laboratory scale)
• use of in vitro and in vivo models to evaluate proof of concept or safety
• exploring potential production mechanisms
• prototyping
• product development planning
• intellectual property protection
• demonstrating of clinical utility and effectiveness
• demonstrating of safety and efficacy (including phase 1 and 2 clinical trials)
• regulatory planning

Your project must focus on the development of a product or process that is an innovative solution to a defined health and/or care challenge.

Early stage

The aim of an early-stage award is to create a data package that is sufficient to support the testing of your product or process in a clinical setting or other relevant environment.

Late stage

The late-stage award is designed to test a well-developed concept and show its effectiveness in a clinical setting or other relevant environment.

Your project must build on prior credible research on a product prototype or process. This is likely to have included a demonstration or validation in an appropriate model system.

Scope

Your project can focus on any health and care sector or discipline. We particularly welcome applications that support innovation in the following areas:

• child health technologies
• innovations that support clinical trials in the UK
• biomedical innovations that combat the threat of antimicrobial resistance

You must align your project to one of the following innovation areas:

• medical technologies and devices
• stratified healthcare
• advanced therapies (gene and cell therapies)
• digital health
• drug discovery
• diagnostics

An online briefing will be held at 1pm on 4th August 2020: click here for details and a joining link.