NIH SIREN Neurologic Clinical Trials (UG3/UH3 - Clinical Trial Required) | PAR 23 090

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 23 090

The NIH SIREN Neurologic Clinical Trials funding opportunity (PAR 23-090) is a National Institutes of Health cooperative agreement that supports multi-center, clinical trial required research focused on neurologic emergencies. The main goal is to move promising emergency neurology interventions into well-coordinated, real-world testing across multiple clinical sites, with the work carried out inside the NIH SIREN Network (Strategies to Innovate Emergency Care Clinical Trials Network). Rather than funding isolated single-site studies, this program is set up to run trials that need rapid identification, enrollment, and treatment of patients in time-sensitive emergency settings, where consistent protocols and operational support are critical.

A central feature of this opportunity is that awardees do not operate alone; they work in partnership with NIH and the existing SIREN infrastructure. The SIREN Clinical Coordinating Center (CCC) helps awardees operationalize and execute the study efficiently, including practical trial start-up and implementation coordination across sites. In parallel, the SIREN Data Coordinating Center (DCC) provides statistical leadership and data management support, which typically includes support for study design inputs, data standards, database and reporting systems, quality control, and analytic planning. The SIREN hubs and their affiliated clinical sites are responsible for on-the-ground execution of the clinical protocol, meaning they implement study procedures where patients actually present for emergency care, such as emergency departments and prehospital or acute care pathways depending on the trial.

The FOA is specifically aimed at neurologic emergencies and emphasizes multi-center clinical trials, with SIREN positioned not only to run studies within its U.S. network but also to collaborate with other U.S. and international consortia when larger, definitive trials are needed. This is important because many emergency neurology questions require very large sample sizes and diverse settings to produce reliable, generalizable evidence. The announcement also draws a clear boundary around stroke: multi-center clinical trials in stroke treatment, stroke recovery, or stroke prevention that are supported by NINDS are expected to be conducted in NIH StrokeNet rather than within SIREN. In other words, applicants considering stroke-centric trials should anticipate that the appropriate network home is StrokeNet, while SIREN is intended for other neurologic emergencies.

The award mechanism is UG3/UH3 under a cooperative agreement structure. In practice, UG3/UH3 programs are commonly structured as a phased approach, where an initial stage supports planning and start-up activities and a subsequent stage supports full trial implementation once specific milestones are met. Because this is a cooperative agreement, NIH expects substantial programmatic involvement, meaning the funder is more actively engaged than under a standard grant. The activity category is Health, and the associated CFDA number listed is 93.853. The opportunity is listed as discretionary funding, and the agency is the National Institutes of Health.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of U.S. organizations and governments. Eligible applicants include state, county, city or township, and special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; nonprofit organizations with or without 501(c)(3) status (outside higher education); for-profit organizations (other than small businesses) as well as small businesses; Native American tribal governments (federally recognized) and tribal organizations (other than federally recognized governments); and public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities. The FOA also explicitly highlights additional eligible applicant categories such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, AANAPISIs, Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities, faith-based or community-based organizations, eligible federal agencies, regional organizations, U.S. territories or possessions, and even non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities (foreign organizations). Importantly, applicants do not need to already be part of SIREN to apply, which lowers the barrier for new investigative teams with strong trial concepts to propose studies that can be integrated into the network.

From a timing standpoint, the original closing date provided is March 6, 2026. Some fields in the listing (such as an award ceiling and expected awards) are not specified in the provided source data, so applicants would typically need to consult the full FOA text and any NIH budget guidance for allowable costs, budget limits, project period expectations, and the details of the UG3-to-UH3 transition milestones.

Overall, this opportunity is designed for teams proposing rigorous, multi-site neurologic emergency trials that benefit from an established national trial infrastructure. It offers the advantage of coordinated operational support (CCC), centralized data and statistical resources (DCC), and access to a network of hubs and clinical sites capable of enrolling and treating patients in fast-moving emergency care environments, while reserving stroke-focused multi-center trials for the separate NIH StrokeNet system.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "NIH SIREN Neurologic Clinical Trials (UG3/UH3 - Clinical Trial Required)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.853.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2023-02-08.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2026-03-06. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

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