NIMH PSYCHOACTIVE DRUG SCREENING PROGRAM

Release Date:  April 28, 1998

RFP AVAILABLE:  NIMH-98-DB-0005

P.T.

National Institute of Mental Health

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is issuing a Request for Proposals
(RFP) entitled "NIMH Psychoactive Drug Screening Program" as Full and Open
Competition under SIC Code 8734. This will be the initial award for this
requirement.  The purpose of this contract is to provide pharmacological and
functional screening of novel synthetic compounds and natural products for
potential use as PET ligands for functional brain imaging, research tools or
probes for preclinical research, and therapeutic agents for mental disorders. 
This screen is not intended for the purpose of large-scale, random screening of
natural products or combinatorial libraries but is intended as a screen for
compounds that have previously been shown to possess novel pharmacological,
biochemical, or behavioral activities relevant to NIMH.

The objectives of the contract will be to receive and test approximately 200 to
300 NIMH-approved and coded samples (synthetic compounds, gene products, and
natural product extracts) per year in primary broad-based CNS receptor and enzyme
screening assays, to test active samples in secondary functional assays, and to
provide an electronic data file for each of the screened compounds. 
Approximately 50% of these samples are to be tested in human recombinant receptor
assays.   Samples for screening can include, but are not limited to, novel
chemical entities, structural analogs of lead compounds, genes or gene products,
small molecules, enzyme inhibitors, and natural products.  It is anticipated that
NIMH-approved and coded samples will be submitted from a variety of sources
including NIH-funded research programs, pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology
companies, or other sources.  It is expected that the screening information
derived from this program will provide individual investigators with conceptual
or structural leads for the design and/or development of new chemical entities,
small molecules, genes or gene products, therapeutic entities, or PET/SPECT
ligands for human brain imaging.

RFP No. NIMH-98-DB-0005 will be available on or about April 22, 1998 and the
receipt date for proposals is June 11, 1998.  The RFP may be accessed through the
NIMH Home Page by using the following instructions:  access the home page at
http://www.nimh.nih.gov, first select "Grants and Contracts", then select "NIMH
Request for Proposals (RFP)", and lastly select "NIMH-98-DB-0005."

Please note that the RFP for this requirement will include the Statement of Work,
Deliverables and Reporting Requirements, the Technical Evaluation Criteria, and
proposal preparation instructions.  All information required for the submission
of an offer will be contained in the electronic RFP package.  Following proposal
submission and initial review process, offerors comprising of the competitive
range will be requested to provide additional documentation to the Contracting
Officer.  All responsible sources may submit a proposal that will be considered
by the NIMH.  This advertisement does not commit the Government to award a
contract.

INQUIRIES

Inquiries may be directed to:

David J. Eskenazi
Contracts Management Branch
National Institute of Mental Health
5600 Fishers Lane, Room 9C-15
Rockville, MD  20857-8030
Telephone:  (301) 443-2696
Email:  de5d@nih.gov

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