Purpose.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) solicits Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant applications from small business concerns (SBCs) that propose to develop, enhance and validate translational tools to facilitate rigorous study of complementary and alternative medicine

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(CAM) approaches that are in wide use by the public.

Recent data from the National Health Interview Survey [http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis.htm] establish that Americans are utilizing CAM approaches to promote health and well-being, to treat or prevent disease, and for symptom relief.

CAM approaches being widely used include massage and manipulative therapies, meditation, yoga, and acupuncture.

Health conditions, particularly chronic pain, back pain and musculoskeletal pain, are the most commonly cited reasons for their use.

This FOA focuses on encouraging the development of improved tools to study safety, efficacy, and clinical effectiveness of widely used CAM approaches, such as:
mind-body interventions, manual therapies, yoga, and acupuncture.

This FOA is not focused on tools for the study of natural products, such as herbal therapies.



Mechanism of Support.

This FOA will utilize the SBIR (R43/R44) grant mechanisms for Phase I, Phase II, and Fast-Track applications and runs in parallel with a FOA of identical scientific scope, RFA-AT-09-002, which solicits applications under the R01 grant mechanism.



Funds Available and Anticipated Number of Awards.

The estimated amount of funds available for support of 5 projects awarded as a result of this announcement is $ 1. 25 million for fiscal year 201 0. Future year amounts will depend on annual appropriations.