Science and Global Health R&D Fund — Generic Drug Repurposing

Generic Drug Repurposing RFP

Funds late-stage clinical testing of repurposed medicines for neglected diseases.

Eligibility · Global — open worldwide

⚠ This may reflect a past cycle — verify the current call on the funder's site.

Coefficient Giving — formerly Open Philanthropy, rebranded November 2025 — launched this Request for Proposals through its Science and Global Health R&D Fund to fund rigorous clinical trials of generic drugs repurposed for high-burden neglected diseases in low- and lower-middle-income countries (LMICs). The program targets diseases that disproportionately affect populations in countries meeting the World Bank's LMIC definition, where existing investment is negligible. Coefficient has previously supported late-stage clinical work including the R21 malaria vaccine trials and has disbursed over $4 billion in philanthropic grants since inception.

The total budget for this RFP was up to $20 million USD, with no maximum size set for individual proposals. The program funded only late-stage Phase IIc or Phase III clinical repurposing trials. Eligible therapies must be approved or recognized as safe by a WHO-Listed Authority such as the US FDA or EMA and include generic drugs, nutraceuticals, supplements, indigenous medicines, combination therapies, and vaccines. All applicants must have an active IRB/Ethics Review Committee, prior or current experience with human clinical research, and operate under WHO GLP/GCP/GLCP standards. Trials must be completable within five years. Applicants may be based anywhere in the world — individuals, universities, research institutions, and for-profit entities were all eligible.

Applications closed on May 11, 2026. The selection process prioritized proposals based on the size of addressable disease burden measured in DALYs, neglectedness by other funders, quality of supporting evidence, therapy uptake potential in LMICs, team quality, and probability of successful trial completion. Letters of interest were submitted as Word documents not exceeding three pages via a Fillout form. Principal investigators were contacted approximately four to six weeks following LOI submission. The contact address for questions is repurposingrfp@coefficientgiving.org.