Washington University is pleased to announce a new LEAP Inventor Challenge partnership with SPARC, a pharma research and drug discovery company.

This partnership allows for new LEAP funding opportunities:

• Up to $250,000 in awards for the first year with potential for additional funding for up to two (2) years
• SPARC may provide additional in-kind support for areas of expertise such as medicinal chemistry, pharmacology toxicology studies, formulation development, analytical development, and intellectual property support

Focus Areas: Small molecule drug discovery projects in oncology, dermatology, opthalmology, immunoinflammatory disorders and neurodegenerative diseases. Additionally, projects that emphasize opportunities arising from challenges in drug delivery or repurposing of existing drugs will be prioritized.

Competitive projects will have a clear clinical indication in areas of unmet medical needs or will have convincing evidence for a significant improvement over current treatment options. They also will have demonstrated promising in vivo or equivalent proof of concept.