NHLBI SBIR Phase IIB Bridge Awards

NHLBI SBIR Phase IIB Bridge Awards

Supports small businesses advancing NHLBI discoveries toward regulatory clearance milestones.

The NHLBI SBIR Phase IIB Bridge Awards program provides late-stage, non-dilutive R&D funding to US small businesses seeking to advance heart, lung, blood, and sleep disorder technologies toward regulatory clearance and commercialization. The governing FOA is RFA-HL-26-014, a reissue of RFA-HL-23-009, which was released November 18, 2024. The FOA was marked expired per NOT-OD-26-006 with an updated expiration of November 17, 2025, but application due dates of February 26, 2026 and February 26, 2027 were listed in the original text, and a reissue for the FY2027 cycle is expected. NHLBI committed total costs of $5.8 million in FY2026, $11.7 million in FY2027, and $17.5 million in FY2028 to fund up to five new awards per year across those three fiscal years.

The activity code is R44 (SBIR Phase II only). Total project budget for the entire period must not exceed $3,500,000 in combined direct costs, indirect costs, and fee; the recommended single-year budget cap is $1,166,667. Project durations of up to three years may be requested. Letter of intent dates are January 26 each cycle year. The companion FOA RFA-HL-26-015 covers Phase IIB Small Market Awards, an alternative track for technologies targeting smaller patient populations.

Eligibility is highly restricted: only US for-profit small business concerns that previously received a SBIR or STTR Phase II award (grant or contract) from NHLBI are eligible to apply, and the proposed R&D must represent a continuation of that prior work. Academic institutions, nonprofits, and for-profit entities without a qualifying prior NHLBI Phase II award are ineligible. This program is NHLBI-specific and cannot be submitted to other NIH institutes. Applications are submitted through grants.gov.