Introduction to Catalyze

This page is for informational purposes only. Federal Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) rules and terms should apply first.

What is Catalyze?

The NHLBI Catalyze Program provides a comprehensive suite of support and services to facilitate the translation of basic scientific discoveries into viable therapeutics, devices, and diagnostics ready for human testing.

The program has three main goals:

  • To drive development of new heart, lung, blood, and sleep (HLBS)-related therapies and cures —including drugs, devices, diagnostics, and biologics—by supporting early product definition studies and safety testing
  • To support development of novel, enabling platform technologies that catalyze next-generation predictive, diagnostic and therapeutic products. These products will specifically address HLBS-related disorders and diseases
  • To train a diverse, globally competitive biomedical workforce that is well-versed in scientific research, technology development, and entrepreneurship

Currently, the Catalyze Program supports five funding opportunities, and their funding mechanisms differ in their budget limits, cost sharing requirements, application materials, and project periods. 

What support and services does Catalyze offer?

Catalyze offers a coordinated and comprehensive array of activities and support services that are personalized to meet each participant’s needs. The Catalyze Coordinating Center works with investigators to develop individualized milestone-driven plans that help lead to success.

In addition to funding opportunities, Catalyze features a network of experts who share best practices, provide technical assistance, offer advisory services, and conduct entrepreneurial education and training. The Catalyze network includes experts in regulation, product development, toxicology, marketing, commercialization, and other areas related to bringing products to market. The program also creates opportunities for cohort-based learning so participants can benefit from the experiences of other participants.

What does Catalyze funding support?

This funding supports three overall categories of product development:

  • Therapeutics (small molecules and biologics)
  • Devices, diagnostics, and research tools
  • Enabling technologies and transformative platforms
See image description

This is a visual depiction of the early translational research supported by the Catalyze Program. (See full description below)

Where is additional information about Catalyze available?

More information about Catalyze is available at https://nhlbicatalyze.org/.

Full Image Description

This is a visual depiction of the early translational research supported by the Catalyze Program. The title that appears above the image (except a block marked FDA) says Early Translational Research Supported by Catalyze. An asterisk next to that content indicates that the Catalyze Program does not support clinical trials or engagement with the FDA.

The image depicts three technology types: drugs, biologics, devices and diagnostics, each of which shows a progression through Product Definition and then Preclinical.

For both drugs and biologics, Product Definition includes Disease Target, then the progression is divided.

Drugs, after Disease Target (still under product definition) has Develop Assay, High-throughput Screening and Hit-to-Lead. Then under Preclinical it has Lead Optimization and then Animal Safety & Efficacy.

Biologics, after disease target (still under Product Definition) has Mechanism of Action and Product Definition. Then under Preclinical for Biologics it has Pre-clinical, Characterization, and Scale Manufacturing.

Separate from Drugs and Biologics is Devices and Diagnostics. Under Product Definition for Devices and Diagnostics there is Concept, followed by Design and then Prototype Development. Under Preclinical for Devices and Diagnostics it has Verification and Validation, Scale Manufacturing, and Animal Testing

The block that says FDA is outside from under the block that says Supported by Catalyze to show that the program does not support engagement with the FDA.