Singapore Therapeutics Development Review (STDR) 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 aims to boost the quality and quantity of drug development and biotech pipelines in Singapore through 2 key features:

• Phased funding support to potential high-value drug discovery and development projects from the local public sector research community, based on the maturity and industry-readiness of projects; and

• Mentoring from leading entrepreneurs, innovators and/or venture capitalists, training through bootcamps, workshops and/or seminars, as well as industry networking opportunities to provide dedicated guidance and upskilling opportunities to grant awardees.

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

STDR Pilot Programme

• The Pilot stage aims to identify high value therapeutic projects within the community and render them the right support to achieve commercial success. Projects in the Pilot stage are expected to have sufficient research data and have already been validated to a certain degree, or already have a commercialisation plan. Both single target/single lead drug development projects and platform technologies projects will be funded.

Funding Details

A total of S$1M (including 30% indirect costs) may be awarded for Pilot funding, split into at least 2 or more phases.

Phase 1:

The funding award is up to S$400K per project (including 30% indirect costs) over a maximum of 1 year.

Phase 2:

Projects will be assessed for competitiveness at the end of 1 year to determine eligibility to receive Phase 2 funding, which is an additional budget of up to S$600K (including 30% indirect costs) over a maximum of 1 additional year.

Eligbility Criteria

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

The Lead 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

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

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

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

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

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 (please see contacts below) before the submission of your application at least 7 days before the grant deadline.

Submission

1. Applicants are to first send the 3 following documents to 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.

• • STDR 2025 (Jul) Pilot Detailed Budget
    

  • STDR 2025 (Jul) Pilot Pitch Deck Template

  • STDR 2025 (Jul) Pilot Writeup on Technical Info
    

Note:

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

• E-signatures are allowed.

• 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 in A*STAR (STDR Secretariat)

1. Ms Ha Truong 
   Email: ha_truong@hq.a-star.edu.sg

 Additional Information

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

Pilot Zipped file