Medical Research Agency Medical Research Agency allocated measures for designing the vaccine, therapy and development of fast diagnostic tests techniques. - News

List of revisions:

Clarification of rules for entities that may apply for financing

Expansion of rules for the type of projects that may be financed. The projects that meet the definition of a non-commercial clinical trial will be subject to preferential financing, however, MRA accepts other types of projects as long as they concern the substantial scope defined in the call, and their form is justified by the character of the project.

It has been clarified that the applications for financing forms for the COVID-19 projects should be sent as PDF files to the following e-mail address: covid19@abm.gov.pl from the principal investigators' email addresses.

Current form of the call:

Pursuant to the Act of 31 March 2020 on amending some acts in the scope of health care system connected to preventing, counteracting and combating COVID-19, the President of the Medical Research Agency announces the possibility to apply for co-funding of projects, with special attention paid to the non-commercial clinical research, in relation to current epidemic situation connected to COVID-19.The research and development activities may include development of:

• new diagnostic solutions connected to COVID19 (rapid diagnostic tests):
• effective COVID-19 vaccine;
• successful therapy for individuals with COVID-19.

The Medical Research Agency may finance up to 100% of costs of research and development works. The following institutions may apply for the financing:

• universities;
• federations of higher education entities;
• the Polish Academy of Sciences (Pol. Polska Akademia Nauk - PAN);
• scientific institutes of PAN;
• research institutes;
• international scientific institutes;
• other entities that perform independent and continuous scientific activities;
• Medical Postgraduate Training Centre, mentioned in the act of 13 September 2018 on the Centre;
• health care entities that were founded by a public medical university or university that performs teaching and research activities in the field of medical sciences and also entrepreneurs that have a status of research and development centre or the Medical Postgraduate Training Centre;
• companies that have the status of a research and development centre.
• other applicants that conduct research and experimental development:

a) organisational units that are legal entities and their registered office is located in the Republic of Poland,

b) entrepreneurs running the business activity in the organisational form other than the one defined in point j.

The projects are accepted continuously. The maximum amount of co-financing is PLN 5 million. The information on the assessment of results will be announced within 72 hours and the decision of financing of the project within 7 working days.

NOTE:

• The projects that meet the definition of a non-commercial clinical trial will be subject to preferential financing, however, MRA accepts other types of projects as long as they concern the substantial scope defined in the call, and their form is justified by the character of the project.
• The scientific value and complexity of the proposed solution, its innovation and the possibility to implement the designed solutions will be assessed. The Agency will also assess the rationality of the budget. The projects are assessed by MRA employees, including a financial analyst.
• The individuals that participate in project verification sign a declaration of confidentiality and impartiality.
• The assessment consists in granting from 0 to 10 points by each assessing person. Only the projects that were granted at least 7 points (the average of three assessments: 2 substantive and 1 financial assessment) shall be financed, however, the final decision on co-financing is taken by the President of MRA.
• There is no ranking list from the assessment. The projects that meet the score-based criteria and the criteria accepted by the President of MRA are qualified to co-financing.
• The maximum length of applications for financing should not be longer than 10 pages.
• No attachments should be sent with the application.
• The standard rules for competitions are not applied to the scientific projects connected to COVID-19, and there shall be no right of appeal against the President's decision.
• The information on the granted financing is published on the website: www.abm.gov.pl

The completed applications for financing forms for the COVID-19 projects should be sent as PDF files to the following e-mail address: covid19@abm.gov.pl from the principal investigators' email addresses.