Methods Development in Natural Products Chemistry (R43/R44) | PA 16 341

Opportunity Information: Apply for PA 16 341

Methods Development in Natural Products Chemistry (R43/R44) is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding opportunity aimed at pushing the natural products field forward by supporting the creation of genuinely new or significantly improved research methods and technologies. The focus is not simply on studying natural products themselves, but on building the tools, platforms, and technical approaches that make natural products discovery, characterization, and development faster, more accurate, more scalable, or otherwise more capable than what is currently possible. In practical terms, the FOA is meant to help small companies translate innovative chemistry and related technology ideas into validated methods that the wider scientific and biomedical community can use.

The award mechanism is the SBIR R43/R44 pathway, which is designed for small business concerns (SBCs) and typically supports early stage feasibility work followed by more advanced development. Under this structure, Phase I (commonly associated with R43) generally supports proof of concept, prototype development, and demonstration of feasibility, while Phase II (commonly associated with R44) supports further development, optimization, and validation toward a product, service, or robust platform. The opportunity is categorized as a discretionary grant in the health funding activity area, with CFDA number 93.213, reflecting its placement within NIH programs.

Eligibility is centered on U.S. small businesses. The FOA explicitly states that non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities, including foreign institutions, are not eligible to apply as applicants. It also states that non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible to apply, meaning the applicant organization and its primary components must be domestic. At the same time, the announcement notes that foreign components, as defined under the NIH Grants Policy Statement, may be allowed. This typically implies that while the applicant must be a U.S. small business, certain parts of the work may be performed outside the U.S. if they meet NIH definitions and are adequately justified as essential to the project (for example, specialized resources or unique expertise that is not reasonably available domestically), subject to NIH review and approval.

From an administrative standpoint, the opportunity is listed under Funding Opportunity Number PA-16-341, was created on June 23, 2016, and shows an original closing date of January 30, 2018. The sponsor agency is NIH. The public summary does not specify an award ceiling or the number of expected awards in the provided source data, which suggests applicants would need to consult the full FOA text and NIH SBIR budget guidelines for limits, phase budgets, and other submission rules.

Overall, this FOA is best understood as an NIH invitation to small U.S. businesses to propose high-impact, enabling innovations for natural products chemistry, where the core deliverable is a method or technology that materially improves how natural products research is done and can support downstream biomedical and health-related advances.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Methods Development in Natural Products Chemistry (R43/R44)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.213.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2016-06-23.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2018-01-30. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: Small businesses.

Apply for PA 16 341

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