- Grant Amount – €15,000–€30,000
- Deadline – December 16, 2025
- CLICK HERE TO APPLY
This $250,000 challenge seeks applications for the development of vaginal formulations that promote optimal drug delivery within the vaginal compartment while supporting the vaginal milieu and offering desirable user benefits.
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The focus of this challenge is to contribute to the development of vaginal formulations that promote optimal drug delivery within the vaginal compartment while positively supporting the vaginal milieu, and that also possess beneficial effects, even if unrelated to the API intended effect, that a user might consider desirable, such as enhancement of sexual pleasure. The initiative aims to identify product-agnostic features that promote vaginal health and that broadly appeal to women to advance product development and formulations for women’s health. Applicants may apply to address one or more of the following objectives of this challenge: leverage biology for vaginally administered products and define characteristics of an ideal vaginal product.
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Proposals are expected to focus on vaginal delivery approaches that do not require retrieval and disposal after use and that can be adapted for extended or slow release of active ingredients. They should use innovative and rigorous qualitative approaches that deepen understanding of standard acceptability metrics and generate biological or end-user data from low- and middle-income regions. All data collection must comply with national regulations on data security, data protection, and privacy.
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Applicants must propose clear, rigorous scientific approaches supported by peer-reviewed literature and demonstrate feasibility with preliminary data. If preliminary data are unavailable, the proposal should remain limited in scope. The requested budget and timeline should align with project objectives, with exploratory projects of lower cost but higher risk being strongly encouraged and prioritized. Projects are also expected to promote diversity, inclusivity, and collaboration with LMIC-based experts in reproductive health.
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Benefits
- Projects with a duration of up to two years and a maximum requested budget of up to $250,000 USD per project are eligible for funding.
- Exploratory projects with shorter durations and lower budgets that focus on high-risk, innovative areas are strongly encouraged and will receive priority.
Eligibility:
- The initiative is open to research institutes, NGOs, academic institutions, government agencies, and for-profit companies.
- However, preference will be given to women-led projects and collaborations based in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
- All projects must be based in South Africa and led by South African principal investigators who are citizens or permanent residents.
- Applicants are expected to comply with the Foundation’s global access clause and are encouraged to build upon existing projects, studies, or trials while fostering collaborations with other institutions.
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