The Office of Alternative Medicine, US National Institutes of Health, just
published a Request For Applications for "Exploratory Grants For
Alternative Medicine". They’ve got $600,000 to split amongst 20 or so
grants for "(1) developing collaborations between practitioners of
alternative medicine and conventional researchers; and (2) small scale
studies designed to obtain preliminary data relevant to the evaluation of
alternative medicine which, for the purpose of this RFA, is understood as a
new and unique activity, not currently supported by NIH."
Letters of intent are due April 30, 1993 (but aren’t absolutely required);
applications are due June 8, 1993.
Applications are open to any organizations or individuals who can do the
science. This seems like a great opportunity to answer some questions
about alternative medicine, and at the same time, help integrate some of
it into the mainstream.
Here’s the full text of the RFA, retrieved from the NIH gopher server
at gopher.nih.gov.
Pete
================
93.03.26 RFP-RFA
EXPLORATORY GRANTS FOR ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE
NIH Guide, Volume 22, Number 12, March 26, 1993
RFA: OD-93-002
P.T.
Keywords:
National Institutes of Health
Letter of Intent Receipt Date: April 30, 1993
Application Receipt Date: June 8, 1993
PURPOSE
The Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM) was initiated within the
Office of the Director (OD), National Institutes of Health (NIH), in
response to Congressional language that accompanied the Fiscal Year
1992 Labor, HHS, and Education and Related Agencies Appropriation
Bill in October 1991 [Senate Report 102-104, Page 147]. The mandate
of the OAM is to evaluate what was then termed "unconventional
medical practices," and was renamed more recently "Alternative
Medicine." The purpose of the OAM is to encourage the investigation
of alternative medical practices, with the ultimate goal of
integrating validated alternative medical practices with current
conventional medical procedures.
The purpose of this Request for Applications (RFA) is to solicit
applications for support of: (1) developing collaborations between
practitioners of alternative medicine and conventional researchers;
and (2) small scale studies designed to obtain preliminary data
relevant to the evaluation of alternative medicine which, for the
purpose of this RFA, is understood as a new and unique activity, not
currently supported by NIH.
It is anticipated that activities supported by these exploratory
grants will form the basis for competitive applications that could be
submitted in response to future RFAs, including a Cooperative
Agreement RFA, from the Office of Alternative Medicine.
HEALTHY PEOPLE 2000
The Public Health Service (PHS) is committed to achieving the health
promotion and disease prevention objectives of "Healthy People 2000,"
a PHS-led national activity for setting priority areas. This RFA,
Exploratory Grants for Alternative Medicine, is related to the
priority area of alternative medical practices. Potential applicants
may obtain a copy of "Healthy People 2000" (Full Report: Stock No.
017-001-00474-0) or "Healthy People 2000" (Summary Report: Stock
No. 017-001-00473-1) through the Superintendent of Documents,
Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402-9325 (telephone 202-
783-3238).
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
Applications may be submitted by domestic, foreign, for-profit and
non-profit organizations, public and private such as universities,
colleges, hospitals, laboratories, units of State and local
governments, federally recognized Indian Tribal governments, and
eligible agencies of the Federal government. Applications from
minority individuals and women are encouraged. The OAM encourages
non-institution-affiliated individual alternative health care
providers/scientists to apply.
MECHANISM OF SUPPORT
Support of projects will be through the NIH Exploratory/Development
Grant (R21). Applicants will be responsible for the planning,
direction, and execution of the proposed project. The total project
period for applications submitted in response to the present RFA may
not exceed one year. The anticipated award date is September 30,
1993.
Because the nature and scope of the research proposed in response to
this RFA may vary, it is anticipated that the size of an award will
vary also.
Except as otherwise stated in this RFA, awards will be administered
under PHS grants policy as stated in the PHS Grants Policy Statement.
FUNDS AVAILABLE
The present RFA is a one-time solicitation, and approximately
$600,000 total costs is committed to fund applications.
Approximately 20 awards, not to exceed $30,000 total costs each, will
be made for a period of funding not to exceed 12 months. This
funding level is dependent on the receipt of applications of high
scientific merit and the availability of funds for this purpose.
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
Background
In a recent article, the demographics, prevalence, and patterns of
use of unconventional medicine in the United States were described
(Eisenberg D. et al, New England J. Med. 328:246-252, 1993). The
most relevant findings were: (a) most people used unconventional
therapies for chronic rather than life-threatening medical
conditions; (b) 72 percent of the respondents who used unconventional
therapy did not inform their medical doctor; extrapolation to the
United States population suggested that in 1990, Americans made
approximately 425 million visits to providers of unconventional
therapy; and (c) expenditures associated with this type of therapy
appeared to be similar to non-reimbursed expenses incurred for all
hospitalizations in the United States. These findings clearly
demonstrated that unconventional medicine plays a significant role in
the health care system within the United States.
Despite the large number of people using alternative medicine
treatments, relatively little scientific data are available to
demonstrate convincingly whether or not a particular treatment is
safe, efficacious, beneficial, helpful, or leads to a positive
outcome (e.g., produces a regression in the size of a tumor, prolongs
or improves quality of life, reduces or eliminates adverse symptoms
of a toxic treatment). This, in essence, was also the conclusion
reached in 1990, in a report published by the Office of Technology
Assessment concerning unconventional cancer treatments: "For none of
the treatments reviewed in this report did the evidence support a
finding of obvious, dramatic benefit that would obviate the need for
formal evaluation to determine effectiveness" (U.S. Congress, Office
of Technology Assessment, OTA-H-405, 1990, p. 225). The report went
on to urge a more systematic analysis of unconventional treatments on
major diseases and effect on wellness. These exploratory grants will
provide funds to initiate the first stages of systematic evaluation
of alternative treatments.
Goals and Scope of the present RFA
This RFA will create a research opportunity for alternative health
care practitioners, otherwise unlikely to participate in NIH
programs, to contribute to the nation’s biomedical effort. These
grants will provide funds for initiating short-term studies that are
preliminary in nature.
Alternative health care providers and scientists are invited to
respond to this RFA to: (1) develop collaborative arrangements
(alternative health care providers with experienced scientists, and
conversely); and (2) obtain/refine preliminary data that could form
the basis for future applications for larger studies that will
investigate and evaluate alternative treatments, utilizing a
rigorous, scientific methodological approach. Although it is
anticipated that pilot clinical studies of alternative medicine will
be the focus of this RFA, laboratory proposals clearly relevant to
alternative medicine will also be considered.
Types of interventions to be investigated could include, but are not
limited to:
o Diet, nutrition, and lifestyle changes
For example, macrobiotics, megavitamins, diets, and changes in
lifestyle
o Mind/body control
Examples include art therapy/relaxation, biofeedback, counseling,
guided imagery, hypnotherapy, and sound/music therapy
o Traditional and ethnomedicine
For example, acupuncture, Ayur Veda, herbal medicine, homeopathic
medicine, Native American medicine, natural products, and Traditional
Oriental Medicine
o Structural manipulations and energetic therapies
Examples are acupressure, chiropractic medicine, massage,
reflexology, rolfing, therapeutic touch, Qi Gong
o Pharmacological and biological treatments
Examples include anti-oxidants, cell treatment, chelation therapy,
metabolic therapy, and oxidizing agents
o Bioelectromagnetic applications
Examples include diagnostic and therapeutic applications of
electromagnetic fields (e.g., transcranial electrostimulation,
neuromagnetic stimulation, electroacupuncture)
NIH currently supports research projects falling under some of the
above headings. Thus, in applications dealing with such topics, the
applicants should carefully justify why they consider their proposals
to be "alternative" (see PURPOSE)
It is anticipated that the proposed studies will be designed to
contribute to the evaluation of the potential for any of these
procedures to affect the clinical course and outcome of an illness,
and/or to increase wellness. The study of effects of alternative
treatment on any major health condition (e.g., cancer, AIDS,
hypertension) is encouraged, although any health issue or disease
could be the subject of research, if a sound rationale is provided.
For funded applications, the first part of the project will be to
develop/finalize the terms of collaboration and, when applicable, to
obtain proper approval for the use of human subjects. This part of
the project should be completed within approximately three months.
To facilitate this important aspect of the grant activity, the OAM
may convene two meetings of all grantees;
…
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E-mail is preferred, but this is fine.