Grants for Pharmaceutical Companies

New drug treatments allow people to live with conditions that previously could have been debilitating or fatal. Psychiatrists and physicians can prescribe drugs for patients complaining of a range of ailments from depression to hair loss. Worldwide revenue on pharmaceuticals surpassed $600 billion in 2006, according to Forbes.com, but how much drug companies have to spend money to develop their products. In the “Journal of Health Economics,” Joseph DiMasi writes that they may spend as much as $802 million developing just one new medication to the point of FDA approval. For many pharmaceutical companies, federal and private grants fund the research and development of drugs.

Orphan Drug Program

• The Pediatric Device Consortia program awards grants toward treatments for children.

  Government incentives are available for companies developing treatments for rare diseases, according to the FDA website. The Office of Orphan Products Development (OOPD) offers grants for these treatments through the Orphan Products Grants Program. There is also a grant available specifically for the development of pediatric treatments, the Pediatric Device Consortia (PDC) program. Grants awarded through this program are for treatments designed for all children and not only children with rare conditions.

Small Business Innovative Research Program

• Women business owners benefit from the SBIR grant.

  The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services offers the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grant to businesses based in the United States. According to the National Institutes of Health website, the purpose of the grant is to encourage small businesses, businesses owned by women and low-income businesses to participate in the research and development of new medications. Applications for this grant are available on the Grants.gov website, along with other federal grants.

Alzheimer’s Disease Drug Development Program

• The National Institutes of Health also offers this grant for the development of drugs for Alzheimer’s. The Grants.nih.gov website explains that this grant’s purpose is to promote research intended to reduce the effects of Alzheimer’s disease and to repair cognitive ability and Alzheimer’s behavioral symptoms. It is available to any private, public, for-profit or non-profit company, and even to some branches of city and state government. Applications for this grant are available on the Grants.nih.gov website.

Rapid Access to Interventional Development

• While not a grant, the RAID program puts non-profit pharmaceutical companies in touch with the resources they need for free. The program is also open to universities. It provides essential services like the bulk development of chemicals and molecules as well as the drafting of analytical models, according to the Northwestern University website. As with all NIH programs, applications are available through the Grants.gov website.