About

The aim of the Clinical Trials Grant (CTG) is to support clinicians to carry out clinical trials for the development of novel therapies, interventions and diagnostics, focusing on healthcare needs. 

There are two schemes under the CTG:

(I)         CTG-Industry Collaborative Trials (CTG-ICT) - Open throughout the year
(II)        CTG-Investigator-Initiated Trials (CTG-IIT) - Open from 3 July 2023 to 31 July 2023, 5pm

Eligibility:

Each grant application must be led by a Clinical Principal Investigator (PI) who has to fulfil the following eligibility criteria listed below at the point of application. Only one PI is allowed per application. 

• Must fulfil HSA’s requirements for PIs who are conducting clinical trials. Pls refer to HSA website for guidelines on conducting clinical trials.

• Registered pharmacists who fulfil HSA's requirements may apply as PI.  The pharmacist PI should involve physicians who are locally registered, as their co-investigators for all interventional clinical trials.

• PI must be clinically qualified (i.e. with MD/MBBS/BDS) and preferably with post-graduate clinical training and experience.  

• PI must hold a primary appointment in a local public hospital/public health institution/national specialty centre/public university/Academic Medical Centre and salaried by the institution. 

• Be an independent PI with a demonstrated track record of research as evidenced by the award of nationally competitive funding (international funding to be considered on a case by case basis) or substantial publication record. 

• Have a laboratory or clinical research program that carries out research in Singapore. 

• Hold a minimum of 9 months employment with a local Singapore institution, and fulfilling full time residency in Singapore over a period of the calendar year. 

• No outstanding reports from previous NRF, BMRC, NMRC grants and other national grants. 

Research Themes:

The CTG is open to applications in all research areas. Applications are assessed based on scientific merit at the international level and relevance to Singapore, but should prioritisation be required between meritorious applications, the following seven disease areas have been identified as national priorities for research:

1. Cancers and neoplasms
2. Cardiovascular
3. Eye
4. Infection
5. Mental health
6. Metabolic and endocrine
7. Neurological

Additional identified priority areas for clinical trials are as follows:

1. Small regional network-based trials led by Singapore KOLs, particularly for rare diseases and Asian prevalent diseases of high priority healthcare challenges to Singapore
2. Early phase clinical trials of high value to build on strong translational expertise (particularly in oncology and cardiology)
3. Clinical pharmacological clinical trials focusing on aging population
4. Precision medicine
5. Digital health technologies
6. Clinical trials using real-world data and evidence and well characterised and pre-consented patient cohorts

Assessment Criteria

Applications are assessed based on the following criteria:

1. Scientific merit of proposal
2. Feasibility of study in local context
3. Track record of applicants
4. Overall impact in local context
5. Scientific/health outcomes and relevance to HHP strategy (e.g. national priority areas, national clinical trials strategy)
6. Economic outcomes:
   1. Attract a range of companies including large pharmaceutical companies, medical device and biotech SMEs, and encourage them to extend their investment and deepen partnerships with public healthcare institutions. It will also help to groom local companies which are bringing new medical products or therapies into market.
   2. Develop next generation of KOLs, deepening expertise in key therapeutic areas to further attract industry investments.
   3. Potential for economic impact, value creation and value capture for industries in Singapore.

(I)    CTG-Industry Collaborative Trials (CTG-ICT) scheme

Description

This scheme supports ICTs that involve both clinician and company contributing intellectual inputs and funds to conduct the trial and developing novel or pre-existing drugs/medical device/interventions for new indications.

This scheme does not support trials that are fully funded/sponsored by companies. Such trials typically do not require the clinicians’ intellectual inputs as the clinical trial protocol has already been designed by the company, and the clinicians’ involvement is more for subject/patient recruitment. 

Prerequisites 

The prerequisite for application is PI’s ability to obtain industry contribution of at least 70% (cash or in-kind) of the Total Project Costs (TPC). The TPC and industry contribution will be based on the Research Collaborative Agreement (RCA) between the host institution (HI) and the industry partner.

-    In IGMS, pls ensure that:
    (i) the industry contribution is clearly indicated on the ‘Pre-award - Industry Contribution’ Excel template. The RCA should clearly indicate the budget information (cash and/or in-kind contribution).

-    Pls note that:
    (i) Only industry contribution incurred in Singapore will be considered as admissible.

    (ii) the admissible in-kind drug cost contribution from the industry partner is limited to equivalent to the non-drug cost contribution  (please refer to CTG section of the NMRC Grant Call Roadshow slides for an example of the calculation). 

    (iii) If the project is awarded, the PI/HI will be required to:

• ensure that the industry contribution is met at the completion of the awarded project.
• submit the updated amount of industry contribution received (with supporting documents e.g receipts, invoices), together with the annual progress report.. 

Funding Quantum and duration 

The scheme will cover up to 30% of the Total Projects Costs inclusive of 30% indirect costs.
Funding quantum for each project is capped at $4.94M per project and for a duration of up to 5 years.

Review Process 

All applications will undergo a streamlined review process and the review process will take about 2 months after application endorsement by HI.

Grant Call Frequency/Submission 

This scheme is open for application throughout the year, i.e. no formal grant calls will be held.

Submission and Deadline

PI will submit a Letter of Intent (LOI) application. If the application is shortlisted, the PI will be invited to submit the full proposal. 

Applicants can submit their proposals at any time. It is mandatory for all applications to be submitted and endorsed by the HI’s Director of Research (DOR) via IGMS. Internal Host Institution submission deadline may apply, please check with your Research Office for more information.

(II)     CTG-Investigator Initiated Trials (CTG-IIT) scheme

Description

This scheme will support IITs of both early and late phase which are initiated and driven by clinicians who are interested to conduct trials on novel or pre-existing drugs/medical device/interventions for new indications.

No minimum company contribution, however, applications with industry contribution would have higher priority.

For applications with industry contribution, please ensure that either the RCA (draft accepted) or letter of support from the industry partner(s) is uploaded in the “Other Attachments” section/tab. The RCA should clearly indicate the budget information (cash and/or in-kind contribution

Funding Quantum and duration

Funding is capped at $1.625M per project (inclusive of 30% indirect costs). For up to 5 years.

Review Process

All applications will be evaluated through a two-stage review process comprising a peer review stage followed by a Local Review Panel (LRP). The review process will take about 6 months after application endorsement by HI.

Grant Call Frequency

There will be two grant calls per year (January and July).

Submission and Deadline:

For the CTG-IIT scheme, applications are to be accompanied with a letter of support from HI and also from the PI’s Head of Department to show their commitment to adopt the IIT outcome.

It is mandatory for all applications to be submitted and endorsed by the HI’s Director of Research (DOR) via IGMS by 31 July 2023, 5pm. Internal Host Institution submission deadline may apply, please check with your Research Office for more information. 

Please ensure that all online submissions are endorsed by the corresponding HI’s DOR by the closing date. We will not entertain any late submissions or submissions from individual applicants without HI’s endorsement. 

Download

Please download the CTG Application Guide and Application Form for the above information and instructions to apply.