The current outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19)got reported first from Wuhan, China, on 31 December 2019. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a new virus that had not been previously identified in humans.COVID-19 has been declared as a pandemic by WHO due to the alarming levels of spread and severity. Till date, there is no specific medicine to treat or prevent COVID-19.

In response to the outbreak, there is an urgent need to accelerate development of diagnostics, vaccines, noveltherapeutics and re-purposing of drugs for this novel coronavirus. In view of the limited current level of knowledge about the new virus, critical research questions need to be answered urgently, and ways have to be found to fund priority research that can contribute to curtail this outbreak and prepare for future outbreaks. Urgent need to develop safe and effective countermeasures that can be available, accessible and suitable for use in populations most in need. Research is an important integral component of the response to be able to identify key knowledge gaps and research priorities, and thereby accelerate the generation of critical scientific information and the most needed medical products to contribute to the control of2019-nCoV emergency.

To support the preparedness, readiness and response for COVID-19, project proposals are being solicited for developing Diagnostics, Vaccines, Novel Therapeutics, Repurposing of Drugs or any other intervention for control of COVID-19 by Industry/​Academia/​Industry-Academiaparticipation.

a.Process of application submissioni.

1. Proposals in the form of Letter of Intent are required to be submitted online only. Online proposal submission can be done by registered users. The RFP will beopen for a period of 12days. Process for submitting the proposals online is detailed below:
2. Log on the BIRAC website (www​.birac​.nic​.in)
3. Registered users may log-in using the credentials and new users need to register the institution with by clicking on New User Registration.
4. In case of new user registration, a computer generated password is sent to the email-id provided at the time of registration.
5. Upon login, the user is navigated to the page displaying the specific scheme link.
6. Click on the link under Programmes and the active call would be highlighted.
7. Click on the active call against which the proposal needs to be submitted. 

b.Process for selection of the proposals

i.The process of evaluation broadly comprises the following steps: 

ii.Eligibility check of mandatory legal parameters

iii.Review of LOI by Scientific Advisory Group (SAG)

iv.Presentation of applicant of selected proposals to SAG

v.Final recommendations and execution of funding agreement

vi.The proposals will be evaluated based on following criteria:

1.Scientific Merit

2.Technical strength of proposal

3.Clarity of technical strategy

4.Innovation level

5.Level of Risk 

6.Investigator’s Credentials and/​or collaborative team’s expertise.

For more information click here.