DOD Vision, Clinical Trial Award | W81XWH 21 VRP CTA

Opportunity Information: Apply for W81XWH 21 VRP CTA

The DOD Vision, Clinical Trial Award (FY21 VRP CTA) is a Department of Defense funding opportunity designed to move promising vision-related treatments into early clinical testing as quickly as possible. The focus is specifically on service-connected eye injuries and visual dysfunction, meaning conditions that affect military Service Members and Veterans as a result of their service. The intent is translational and impact-driven: the program is looking for interventions that could realistically make a meaningful difference in outcomes for people dealing with vision loss or visual impairment tied to military service.

This award mechanism is strictly for clinical trials, and it emphasizes early-phase work, covering phase 0 through phase 2a studies. In practical terms, that includes first-in-human efforts, early safety and dosing evaluations, and preliminary signals of efficacy that can justify larger confirmatory trials later. The opportunity supports a range of intervention types, not just pharmaceuticals. Proposals may evaluate new products, drugs or biologics, medical devices, clinical guidance (such as protocols or structured care pathways), and emerging approaches or technologies, as long as the work is organized as a clinical trial intended to measure biomedical or behavioral health-related outcomes.

The announcement uses the standard federal definition of a clinical trial: a research study in which one or more human subjects are prospectively assigned to one or more interventions, which can include a placebo or other control, to evaluate the effects of those interventions on health-related outcomes. This definition matters because it clarifies that the award is not meant for purely observational studies, retrospective analyses, or basic lab work without prospective assignment to an intervention. The funding is expected to directly support the conduct of the trial itself, including the operational and regulatory elements needed to enroll participants and evaluate outcomes.

There is also a notable human-subjects compliance requirement tied to transparency. Any trial funded through this mechanism must publicly post a copy of the IRB-approved informed consent form used to enroll subjects on a publicly available federal website. This is required in accordance with federal human research protections rules referenced in 32 CFR 219. Applicants should expect that regulatory planning, IRB coordination, and documentation management are not optional add-ons but core expectations of the award.

Administratively, the opportunity is listed as discretionary funding and can be issued as either a cooperative agreement or a grant, depending on the government’s anticipated level of involvement. It falls under the Science and Technology / Research and Development activity category and is associated with CFDA number 12.420. Eligibility is described as unrestricted, meaning it is open to a broad set of applicant organizations, subject to any additional eligibility details that may appear in the full announcement. The sponsoring agency is the Department of Defense, Department of the Army, administered through USAMRAA. The record shows it was created on May 14, 2021, with an original closing date of November 16, 2021, and it anticipated a very limited number of awards (listed as one). The award ceiling is shown as 0 in the listing, which typically indicates that applicants need to consult the full solicitation for budget limits or that the ceiling is not specified in the summary entry.

• The Department of Defense, Dept. of the Army -- USAMRAA in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "DOD Vision, Clinical Trial Award" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 12.420.
• This funding opportunity was created on May 14, 2021.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Nov 16, 2021. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

Apply for W81XWH 21 VRP CTA

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