ForTra is announcing a call for proposals to produce cell and gene therapeutics under Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) conditions which are intended to be subsequently utilized in a clinical study involving patients.
Gene and cell therapies are developing rapidly and are key to future medical treatment strategies. This is being addressed, among other things, by the funding measures of the National Strategy for Gene and Cell-Based Therapies.
The implementation of clinical studies is a cost-intensive and mandatory step on the path to translating novel gene and cell therapies into clinical application. ForTra is going to enable individual innovative projects that address a high medical need to carry out a clinical study by financially supporting the production of the given study material under GMP conditions as prescribed by law. The entire production process or individual parts thereof shall be funded for a variety of gene and cell therapeutics. Up to four million euros will be provided for the whole call for proposals.
Eligible to submit proposals for non-profit funding by ForTra are clinician and medical scientists employed by academic research facilities (hospital clinics, research institutes, etc.) or other non-profit scientific entities.
The selection procedure for identification of funded projects consists of two steps: Proposal outlines can be submitted via email until November 14, 2025 to antrag@fortra-forschungstransfer.de. Information regarding the details of proposal submission can be found among the Downloads.
An external panel of expert reviewers will use the outlines to identify projects whose principal investigators are subsequently asked to submit a full application. Following assessment and recommendation by the expert reviewers (including personal pitching of the project) and approval by the Boards, ForTra might send out the funding decisions presumably in the first quarter of 2026.
