MRC Gap Fund: Single-Step Support for Medical Product Development

Funding to generate critical preliminary data to build confidence in the development strategy for a new medicine, repurposed medicine, medical device, diagnostic test or other medical intervention development. This fund will provide small scale funding to generate critical data needed prior to seeking more substantive funding.

The Medical Research Council (MRC) is providing this opportunity through the Developmental Pathway Gap Fund (DPGF). DPGF sits beyond the smaller Impact Accelerator Account (IAA) funding and before the more substantive and longer Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme (DPFS).

This scheme is designed to support the development of a new or repurposed medicine, medical device, diagnostic, or other medical product. Projects must target a high-risk development step backed by prior funding, generating critical data to de-risk onward progression or determine failure.

Applicants can apply for academically-led translational projects that aim to undertake a single-step package of work that will bridge the gap between inception of a new idea and substantive funding through schemes such as the MRC DPFS. The Gap Fund supports MRC’s strategic priorities including:

• Precision prevention to reduce disease risk in targeted populations.
• Early and accurate diagnosis to improve speed and accuracy of disease detection.
• Advanced treatments offering novel therapeutic approaches.
• Improve outcome monitoring of patients receiving treatment.
• Better management of diseases and conditions through innovative technologies.

All human diseases and medical interventions are eligible for support, both in the context of UK healthcare and addressing global health issues.

The Gap Fund will only support single-step projects, focusing on one goal rather than multiple steps. Submitted projects should have already explored a new concept and generated some data in support of the approach.

The scheme will provide small-scale funding to generate critical data needed prior to seeking more substantive funding. A non-exhaustive list of examples of the types of projects that could be supported include:

• High-risk elements of therapeutic discovery, quantification and validation.
• High-risk stages of prototype development.
• Early prototype testing.
• Initial biomarker validation.
• Vector identification or optimisation.
• Hit expansion medicinal chemistry.

In exceptional circumstances, applicants can submit follow on applications where they can justify the need for continued support. However, in most cases a positive outcome of the proposed work should be sufficient to allow submission of a longer and larger application, potentially to the DPFS.

Projects should last between 6 and 18 months.