Drug Discovery Faculty Starter Grant
Supports early-stage faculty pursuing innovative, translational drug discovery research with strong therapeutic potential at U.S. universities.
Funder: PhRMA Foundation
Due Dates: April 15, 2026 (Letter of Intent) | August 26, 2026 (Full application, by invitation)
Funding Amounts: $100,000 for one year; no indirect costs or PI salary allowed; funds must support research only.
Summary: Supports early-stage faculty at U.S. universities conducting innovative, translational drug discovery research with strong therapeutic potential.
Key Information: Two-step process: LOI required; full application by invitation only; strict eligibility and funding constraints apply.
Description
The Drug Discovery Faculty Starter Grant, offered by the PhRMA Foundation, is designed to launch the independent research careers of early-stage faculty at accredited U.S. universities. The grant supports innovative drug discovery projects that integrate multiple scientific disciplines and demonstrate clear translational potential toward new therapies for human disease. Eligible research areas include target identification and validation, disease mechanism mapping with multi-omics, hit and lead identification, protein biochemistry, cellular and molecular biology, in vitro and in vivo pharmacological studies, advanced biomedical imaging, and the application of AI and computational approaches to therapeutic hypotheses. Projects must articulate a therapeutically relevant hypothesis and, if computational, provide a translational validation plan. The program will not fund projects focused solely on assay development, chemistry-only research without therapeutic evaluation, or biomarker/diagnostic identification without clinical context.
