Singapore Therapeutics Development Review (STDR) - Pre-Pilot Programme

​

Objective

The Singapore Therapeutics Development Review (STDR) is a national-level grant call for public sector research, implemented by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) in partnership with our strategic partners, the Experimental Drug Development Centre (EDDC), Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) and National Health Innovation Centre (NHIC).

STDR will fund therapeutic projects in areas such as small molecules, large molecules, cell and gene therapies and platform technologies.

• The Pre-Pilot stage aims to support earlier-stage and more exploratory, proof-of-concept projects that have some preliminary data.

• The Pre-Pilot call for proposals will be split into two streams:

• 1. Stream 1 will support single target/single lead drug development projects, and will be facilitated by EDDC as a continuation of their Target Translation Consortium (TTC) scheme from RIE2020.

  2. Stream 2 will support platform discovery projects, and will be facilitated by SMART.

Funding Details

The funding award is up to S$325K per project (including 30% indirect costs) over a maximum of 1 year.

Eligbility Criteria

Applicants are required to fulfil the following criteria at the point of application:

The Principal Investigator (PI) should:

1. Hold at least a 0.7 FTE primary appointment in a Singapore publicly funded research or tertiary institution;

2. Have the relevant scientific/technical background and necessary experience to direct the project being supported by the grant

   Exceptions to eligibility criteria will be considered on a case by case basis with the submission of a waiver request. Please write to the respective grant secretariat before the submission of your application.

Post-doctoral researchers who wish to apply for STDR should submit a letter from their supervisor declaring that:

1. The supervisor supports the post-doctoral researcher's STDR application,

2. The contract of the post-doctoral researcher covers the entire STDR grant period, and

3. The grant body that is funding the post-doctoral researcher is agreeable to their application for STDR grants (if relevant).　

Note: Exceptions to eligibility criteria will be considered on a case by case basis with the submission of a waiver request. Please write to the grant secretariat (please see contacts below) before the submission of your application, at least 7 days before the grant deadline on 28 August 2025 (i.e. 20 August 2025).

Submission

1. Applicants are to first send the 'STDR 2025 (Jul) Stream 1 Pre-Pilot Full Proposal Form' or 'STDR 2025 (Jul) Stream 2 Pre-Pilot Full Proposal Form to SingHealth Intellectual Property SingHealth Intellectual Property (SHIP - as the Industry & Enterprise (IEO) Office for SingHealth cluster institutions) SHIP@singhealth.com.sg through Host Institution's research office by 7 August 2025 (Thursday), 5pm for preliminary assessment. Please note that late submissions will not be accepted for review by SHIP.

2. SHIP will then send the feedback to the applicants for revision (if any).

3. Applicants are to forward the finalised 'STDR 2025 (Jul) Stream 1 Pre-Pilot Full Proposal Form' or 'STDR 2025 (Jul) Stream 2 Pre-Pilot Full Proposal Form' to SHIP prior to the softcopy submission online via the iGrants website: https://igrants-app.a-star.edu.sg/ by 28 August 2025 (Thursday), 5pm.

4. Endorsements of the following are required for each application:

• Host Institution's Research Director (or equivalent)
• Industry & Enterprise (IEO) SingHealth Cluster institutions - SingHealth Intellectual Property Office (SHIP)

5. Presentation to Review panel* (for Stream 2 only) is scheduled to be held on late October 2025.

        *Applicants must ensure they are available to attend the meeting.

Note:

• Please note that late submissions will not be accepted for review by SHIP.

• For queries related to iGrants, please reach out to A-STAR_OGA@hq.a-star.edu.sg. 　　

• SingHealth PIs are to please refer to your respective Institutional Research Administrators for guidance on internal deadlines and submission procedures set by your institutions.

Contact Person in SHIP

Email: SHIP@singhealth.com.sg  

Contact Person on iGrants
Email: A-STAR_OGA@hq.a-star.edu.sg

Contact person

For queries related to STDR Pre-Pilot Stream 1 (Target Validation) and consultation on single asset applications: 

• Dr Christophe Bodenreider (EDDC)
  Email: christophe_bodenreider@eddc.sg　

• Ms Chia Hsin-Ee (EDDC) 　　　　　　　　 　　　　　　　　　　　
  Email: chia_hsin_ee@eddc.sg  　

For queries related to Pre-Pilot Stream 2 (Platform Development) and consultation on platform applications

• Dr Howard Califano
  Email: howard.califano@smart.mit.edu

• Mr Brian Yen
  Email: brian.yen@smart.mit.edu

Additional Information

Please refer to the A*STAR's website here (internet accessible link) for the more information:

Pre-pilot zipped file