DOD Offering Clinical Exploration Award for Novel Chronic Pain Management Interventions

The intent of the FY23 CPMRP CEA is to support proof-of-principle pilot studies, clinical trials, and correlative studies to investigate hypothesis-based, innovative interventions and/or avenues of research that have the potential to resolve current clinical barriers and result in a profound impact on the management of chronic pain. While therapeutic approaches proposed for testing through the CPMRP CEA must represent novel, hypothesis-based, “outside-the-box” approaches for managing chronic pain, they may include therapies already in clinical use, or undergoing clinical testing, for other diseases, provided that the proposed use for chronic pain management would lead to a major advancement in patient care. In addition, while not required, applications focusing on Complementary and Integrative Health (CIH) or non-pharmacological interventions are encouraged. Applications to the CPMRP CEA should explain how the proposed work will address a gap in clinical knowledge and enable future studies to transform clinical care for chronic pain management. It is anticipated that outcomes from studies funded by this award will provide scientific rationale for subsequent larger clinical trials of interventions that will transform chronic pain management and/or clinical care. Studies seeking to advance new and novel opioid-based therapeutic interventions do not meet the intent of the award mechanism and will not be selected for funding. Studies seeking to understand and reduce opioid utilization in chronic pain management within the context of current prescribing practices are acceptable.