Technology area

Biologic therapeutic

651 funded awards, $428.0M total, FY2023-FY2025.

Data current as of 2026-05-11

Pattern read

Biologic therapeutic activity in NIH SBIR sits almost evenly across NCI (147) and NIAID (146). NCI's slice covers antibody, ADC, and CAR-T work; NIAID skews toward antibody platforms for infectious disease and vaccine-adjacent biologics. NIGMS at 82 captures the basic-mechanism work. The mechanism mix is heavily R44 (325) with a solid R43 (179) base, and the R41 footprint is unusually large at 93, since biologics development is one of the tags where academic-IP origins remain common. Median award is $500K. Recipient concentration is low at 4%, so no single firm has cornered the dataset. The tag bundles monoclonals, fusion proteins, CAR-T, ADCs, and recombinant proteins, so a single number flattens a lot of underlying heterogeneity.

Fit indicators

  • Roughly equal weight at NCI and NIAID; oncology and infectious-disease biologics are both well-represented.
  • High STTR (R41) share at 93 records means academic-IP-based biologics startups have had a recognizable path.

Watchouts

  • The tag covers wildly different modalities (mAb vs ADC vs CAR-T vs fusion). Funded applications were specific about modality and mechanism in the opening paragraph.
  • Manufacturing complexity is the recurring reviewer concern. Underspecified CMC plans get flagged consistently.

Where the money sat, by Institute / Center

IC funding decisions are set by portfolio priorities, NOFO scope, and program-officer judgment. These are funded records, not predictions of future funding.

ICNameRecordsMedian award
CA (NCI) National Cancer Institute 147 $665,000
AI (NIAID) National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases 146 $303,731
GM (NIGMS) National Institute of General Medical Sciences 82 $381,447
HL (NHLBI) National Heart Lung and Blood Institute 76 $886,839
DK (NIDDK) National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases 39 $590,935
NS (NINDS) National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke 37 $961,962
AG (NIA) National Institute on Aging 25 $478,280
TR (NCATS) National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences 21 $350,000
EY (NEI) National Eye Institute 20 $718,983
AR (NIAMS) National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases 19 $298,915
HD (NICHD) Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development 12 $824,052
HG (NHGRI) National Human Genome Research Institute 8 $712,876
AA (NIAAA) National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism 4 $605,404
EB (NIBIB) National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering 4 $303,195
DE (NIDCR) National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research 4 $312,312
MH (NIMH) National Institute of Mental Health 3 $300,000
DA (NIDA) National Institute on Drug Abuse 2 $349,401
ES (NIEHS) National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences 1 $257,312
MD (NIMHD) National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities 1 $406,500

FOA / NOFO routes

Opportunity number prefixes: PA = Parent Announcement (broad, omnibus, multiple ICs), PAR = Parent with Special Review, PAS = Parent with set-aside funds, RFA = Request for Applications (targeted, single-IC, fixed budget). Status unknown means the pipeline has not verified whether the FOA is currently posting awards; the SBIR omnibus has been in reauthorization gap during this window. See the glossary for full definitions.

OpportunityStatusRecords
PA-22-176 unknown 159
PA-23-230 unknown 111
PA-21-259 unknown 78
PA-24-245 unknown 60
PA-22-178 unknown 44
PA-23-232 unknown 30
PA-21-262 unknown 22
PA-24-247 unknown 18
PA-20-260 unknown 18
PA-20-265 unknown 11
PAS-22-196 unknown 8
PA-23-231 unknown 8
PA-19-272 unknown 8
PA-20-272 unknown 7
PAS-22-197 unknown 6
PA-20-047 unknown 6
PA-21-260 unknown 5
PA-22-177 unknown 5
PA-24-246 unknown 4
PA-21-345 unknown 3
RFA-HL-23-008 unknown 2
RFA-CA-23-034 unknown 2
RFA-CA-24-023 unknown 2
RFA-AG-24-042 unknown 2
RFA-CA-23-035 unknown 2
PA-25-212 unknown 2
RFA-CA-21-001 unknown 2
PA-19-271 unknown 2
PAR-21-030 unknown 2
PAR-21-114 unknown 2
PAR-22-073 unknown 2
PAS-19-317 unknown 2
PA-18-574 unknown 2
PA-20-262 unknown 2
RFA-MD-24-007 unknown 1
RFA-NS-23-006 unknown 1
PAR-24-131 expired 1
RFA-MD-23-003 unknown 1
RFA-DA-24-018 unknown 1
RFA-NS-20-010 unknown 1
PA-17-302 unknown 1
RFA-HL-19-017 unknown 1
RFA-NS-20-009 unknown 1
RFA-NS-20-011 unknown 1
PAR-21-247 unknown 1
RFA-CA-20-033 unknown 1

Comparable funded projects

ApplIDFYICTitleOrganizationAmount
10598447 2025 CA Early clinical development of a novel IL-7R antibody for treating children with relapsed T-cell leukemia FANNIN PARTNERS, LLC $999,997
10850989 2025 CA CCR4-IL2 Bispecific Immunotoxin for Targeted Therapy of Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma ROCK IMMUNE, INC. $248,336
10932102 2025 NS Next-generation nanomedicine for acute ischemic stroke NANOMUSE, LLC $351,461
10935988 2025 AR Engineered Biotherapeutic Agent for Treatment of Post-Traumatic Osteoarthritis PROVIZIGEN LLC $158,663
10997344 2025 AI A Vaccine for Lymphatic Filariasis, LFGuard™ PAI LIFE SCIENCES, INC. $452,996
11003734 2025 AI Chikungunya Recombinant Subunit Vaccine HAWAII BIOTECH, INC. $998,229
11010813 2025 AI Improving availability of ImmunoPET via automation of radio-synthesis and quality control of antibody-based HIV imaging PET tracers on a single platform. TRACE-ABILITY, INC. $1,000,000
11014847 2025 GM Combinatorial pipeline for discovery of anti-GPCR Nanobodies BIOCOGNON LLC $303,024

Review panels that have appeared on these records

Panel names use NIH's Center for Scientific Review (CSR) format: a 2-4 letter study-section code plus a meeting-cycle number in parentheses (e.g. ISB (12) = Instrumentation and Systems Development, cycle 12). SBIR/STTR review groups are temporary, meeting-specific bodies. The names below describe panels that have appeared on the cited funded-project records, not where future applications get assigned. NIH assigns panels at the time of submission based on the application content.

Limitations

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