2025 "$100,000 Start an SUD Startup" Challenge
Pays teams up to $10,000 each, plus six months of biotech mentoring, for drug-use research ideas.
NIDA runs the Challenge in two stages judged separately. Stage 1 submissions — a registration form, a 5-minute YouTube video introducing the team, and a 4-page proposal — are scored by a panel of federal-employee scientists against four weighted criteria: team and founder aptitude, validation of unmet need, idea novelty, and commercialization potential. Submissions with sufficiently high scores mo…
Looks for research ideas in drug use, misuse, and substance use disorder (SUD) that could become the foundation of a biomedical startup — a device, drug, software, service or new delivery model. A platform technology must be broad enough to address SUD among other conditions; ideas limited to alcohol use disorder or pain are not accepted.
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Guides for this application
All guides →NIH Biosketch Guide: Format, SciENcv Steps, and Examples
Learn what an NIH biosketch is, how the format works, what to prepare for SciENcv, and how startup teams should avoid common biosketch mistakes.
Write proposalHow to Write a Specific Aims Page
Learn how to write a specific aims page for NIH, SBIR-adjacent, and translational R&D grants, with structure, reviewer logic, examples, and common mistakes.
Where to applyGrants for Biotech Startups: NIH, NSF, SBIR/STTR, and Non-Dilutive Funding
A practical guide to grants for biotech startups, including NIH SBIR/STTR, NSF, translational funding, evidence, regulatory readiness, and budgets.
Write proposalHow to Write a Grant Proposal Reviewers Can Score
Learn how to write a grant proposal around reviewer criteria, evidence, work packages, budget logic, and commercialization for deeptech and R&D funding.
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