Notice Number: NOT-AR-19-039

Key Dates
Release Date: September 12, 2019
Response Date: November 20, 2019 (Previously October 28, 2019)

RFA-AR-14-015
RFA-AR-14-016
NOT-AR-20-007

Issued by
National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS)

Purpose

The Accelerating Medicines Partnership in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus (AMP RA/SLE) Program (https://www.niams.nih.gov/grants-funding/funded-research/accelerating-medicines) is supported by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) together with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and partners from the pharmaceutical industry, patient advocacy groups and professional organizations. The AMP RA/SLE Program was established to define shared and disease-specific biological pathways in order to identify relevant drug targets for the treatment of autoimmune diseases through an enhanced systems-level understanding of gene expression and signaling in target tissues from affected end organs and peripheral blood cells .

The AMP RA/SLE Program represents a new model of support for interdisciplinary scientific projects and has not been evaluated yet. NIAMS is convening an AMP-Lessons Learned Working Group (AMP-LL WG) to identify best practices and gather input on the AMP RA/SLE Program to guide future NIAMS scientific, policy and management actions related to the support of interdisciplinary science.

This effort is part of an ongoing endeavor to use novel approaches to generate evidence to guide the assessment and development of Strategic Initiatives and other programs at NIAMS. The Institute is issuing this Request for Information (RFI) to solicit feedback from the research, patient and other stakeholder communities about the strengths and weaknesses of the AMP RA/SLE Program approach to support interdisciplinary science. Additionally, we encourage input on the feasibility and use of this model in future interdisciplinary science efforts within the NIAMS mission. The NIAMS AMP-LL WG will use the feedback received to inform their discussions as they prepare their recommendations for the NIAMS Advisory Council.

Information Requested

Through this RFI, NIAMS invites feedback from researchers in academia and industry, including those who are part of the AMP RA/SLE Program, health care professionals, patient advocates and health advocacy organizations, scientific or professional organizations, Federal agencies, and other interested members of the public. NIAMS is using the AMP RA/SLE program as a case study for how to promote interdisciplinary research. NIAMS is requesting input on the structure and function of the AMP RA/SLE Program related to advancing understanding of disease biology, identification of druggable targets and promoting interdisciplinary science. Organizations are strongly encouraged to submit a single response that reflects the views of their organization and membership as a whole.

Please provide your comments and feedback. The final report of the Working Group on AMP RA/SLE Program: Lessons Learned will be presented at the February 2020 meeting of the NIAMS Advisory Council.

How to Submit a Response

Responses to this RFI must be submitted electronically at https://grants.nih.gov/grants/rfi/rfi.cfm?ID=91

To ensure consideration, responses must be submitted by: November 20, 2019 11:59:59 PM EDT (Previously October 28, 2019)

Responses to this RFI are voluntary. Do not include any proprietary, classified, confidential, trade secret, or sensitive information in your response. The responses will be reviewed by NIAMS staff, and individual feedback will not be provided to any responder. NIAMS will use the information submitted in response to this RFI at its discretion and will not provide comments to any responder’s submission. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. The Government reserves the right to use any submitted information on public NIH websites, in reports, in summaries of the state of the science, in any possible resultant solicitation(s), grant(s), or cooperative agreement(s), or in the development of future funding opportunity announcements.

This RFI is for information and planning purposes only and shall not be construed as a solicitation, grant, or cooperative agreement, or as an obligation on the part of the Federal Government, the NIH, or individual NIH Institutes and Centers to provide support for any ideas identified in response to it. The Government will not pay for the preparation of any information submitted or for the Government’s use of such information. No basis for claims against the U.S. Government shall arise as a result of a response to this request for information or from the Government’s use of such information.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Susana A. Serrate-Sztein, M.D.
National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases
Telephone: 301-827-3276
Email: AMP-LL-WG@mail.nih.gov