BARDA DRIVe ReDIRECT (Repurposing for Chem Threats)

BARDA DRIVe ReDIRECT, short for Repurposing for Chem Threats, is BARDA's program for converting existing therapeutics into medical countermeasures against chemical threats. It sits under the same DRIVe platform and focuses on agents such as cyanide, opioids, nerve agents, chlorine, and sulfur mustard. The program awards grants from $250k to $5m, with a median actual award of $750k, and it runs on a rolling basis. Eligibility is limited to U.S.-based for-profit companies; nonprofits and individuals are not eligible. The technical window runs from TRL 3-7, there is a 50% founder-citizenship threshold, and the same scope cannot be stacked with other support. ReDIRECT is strongest for teams that already have a therapeutic asset and want to reposition it for a chemical-threat use case with a narrow, defensible claim. The program rewards repurposing strategies that can show credible mechanism, development speed, and a clean path from the original molecule or platform to an approved countermeasure, especially where the repurposed asset can move quickly into a countermeasure setting.

No upcoming rounds verified. Cadence: Rolling.