Call for proposals to support the development of innovative medical countermeasures for chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats (HERA) - Detection and diagnosis

This EU funding opportunity is part of the EU4Health Programme, specifically targeting the development of innovative medical countermeasures for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats under the action title EU4H HERA Action Grants 2025. The main financial mechanism for this call is a grant known as a budget-based action grant. This call is currently open for submissions and follows a single-stage application process. The opening date for submissions is September 4, 2025, with a deadline of December 4, 2025, at 17:00 Brussels time.

Eligible applicant types include a wide range of entities involved in health research and development, such as universities, research institutes, small and medium-sized enterprises, large companies, startups in biotech and medtech sectors, healthcare organizations, public health institutions, and nonprofit organizations focused on health-related projects. The programme promotes advanced research and aims to enhance technical and scientific expertise in medical countermeasures.

The geographic eligibility covers entities from EU Member States, EEA countries, and EU candidate countries, potentially allowing participation from associated third countries if relevant to health security.

The funding amount for specific topics under this call includes €18,000,000 for one topic, while two other topics are funded at €1,000,000 each. The submission is characterized as an open call where applicants pass through one stage for evaluation. Co-funding is required, generally covering up to 60% of total eligible costs, although this may rise to 80% in certain situations.

This initiative is designed to strengthen the EU's preparedness to respond to health emergencies caused by CBRN threats. It supports projects that advance medical countermeasures, particularly those focused on detection and diagnostic capabilities. The call encourages collaboration between research entities and end users, ultimately aiming to bridge the gap from research to market readiness.

Applicants will need to submit their proposals electronically through the Funding & Tenders Portal, where they can also access supporting documents such as application form templates and model grant agreements. For assistance, potential applicants can contact the relevant helpdesk for queries related to the call. This funding opportunity represents a critical effort to enhance Europe’s capacity to respond to intentional health threats, ensuring the rapid detection and effective management of CBRN incidents.

This EU funding opportunity is the Call for Proposals to support the development of innovative medical countermeasures for chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats (HERA) - Detection and diagnosis. It falls under the EU4Health Programme (EU4H) and is specifically the EU4H HERA Action Grants 2025 (EU4H-2025-HERA-PJ). The type of action is EU4H Project Grants (EU4H-PJG) and the type of Model Grant Agreement (MGA) is EU4H Action Grant Budget-Based [EU4H-AG]. The call is currently open for submission and follows a single-stage submission process. The opening date for submissions was September 4, 2025, and the deadline for submissions is December 4, 2025, at 17:00:00 Brussels time.

The expected impact of this action is to increase the preparedness of the Union to respond to CBRN threats and improve the availability of medical countermeasures against these threats. The projects should advance one or more medical countermeasures against CBRN threats along the steps towards regulatory approval and market readiness. A special focus is on detection and diagnostics, particularly tests that can rapidly detect individual or a broad range of chemical and biological agents, including biotoxins.

The expected outcome includes an end-to-end approach to bridge the gap between advanced research, innovation, market access, and deployment. This involves supporting advanced research and development (R&D) to support the development of medical countermeasures, involving end users and security practitioners to bring the research products closer to market readiness, and supporting research into market readiness or facilitating tech and entrepreneurial skills development.

The objective of this call is to improve the Union’s readiness to respond to intentional health threats, including cross-border ones, by supporting the development of medical countermeasures to biological, chemical, and radio-nuclear agents for which there currently are no or only limited treatment options.

The scope of this action focuses on supporting advanced research on threat-agnostic medical countermeasures against CBRN agents and platform approaches to treat injuries from CBRN agents.

The submission session is now available for EU4H-2025-HERA-PJ-2, EU4H-2025-HERA-PJ-1-a, EU4H-2025-HERA-PJ-1-b, and EU4H-2025-HERA-PJ-1-c.

The conditions for this call include:

1. Admissibility Conditions: as described in section 5 of the call document. The proposal page limits and layout are described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System.

2. Eligible Countries: as described in section 6 of the call document.

3. Other Eligible Conditions: as described in section 6 of the call document.

4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion: as described in section 7 of the call document.

5a. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes are described in section 8 of the call document and the Online Manual.

5b. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring, and thresholds are described in section 9 of the call document.

5c. Evaluation and award: The indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement is described in section 4 of the call document.

6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants: as described in section 10 of the call document.

The call document, application form templates (Standard application form (EU4H) available in the Submission System, Detailed budget table (EU4H)), Model Grant Agreements (MGA) (EU4Health Programme General MGA), and additional documents (EU4Health Work Programme 2025, EU4Health Regulation 2021/522, EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509, EU Grants AGA Annotated Model Grant Agreement, Guidance on How to handle security-sensitive projects, Guidance note on Potential misuse of research, and STEP Regulation 2024/795) are available.

The budget overview for the year 2025 is as follows:

EU4H-2025-HERA-PJ-1-a EU4H-PJG EU4H Project Grants: 18,000,000 EUR, single-stage, opening date 2025-09-04, deadline 2025-12-04.

EU4H-2025-HERA-PJ-1-b EU4H-PJG EU4H Project Grants: 1,000,000 EUR, single-stage, opening date 2025-09-04, deadline 2025-12-04.

EU4H-2025-HERA-PJ-1-c EU4H-PJG EU4H Project Grants: 1,000,000 EUR, single-stage, opening date 2025-09-04, deadline 2025-12-04.

EU4H-2025-HERA-PJ-2 EU4H-PJG EU4H Project Grants: 10,000,000 EUR, single-stage, opening date 2025-09-04, deadline 2025-12-04.

There are currently no partner search announcements. LEARs, Account Administrators, or self-registrants can publish partner requests for open and forthcoming topics after logging into the Portal, as well as any user having an active public Person profile.

To access the Electronic Submission Service, applicants should click on the submission button next to the type of action and the type of model grant agreement that corresponds to their proposal. Applicants will be asked to confirm their choice, as it cannot be changed in the submission system. Upon confirmation, applicants will be linked to the correct entry point. To access existing draft proposals for this topic, applicants should log in to the Funding & Tenders Portal and select the My Proposals page of the My Area section. Applicants should select the type of submission: EU4H Project Grants [EU4H-PJG], EU4H Action Grant Budget-Based [EU4H-AG] and start the submission.

There are no topic Q&As available.

For help related to this call, applicants can contact HaDEA-HP-CALLS@ec.europa.eu. Additional resources include the Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ Submission of proposals, the IT Helpdesk for technical questions, and the Online Manual for a step-by-step guide through the Portal processes.

In summary, this EU4Health Programme call aims to bolster the European Union's ability to counter chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) threats by funding projects that develop innovative medical countermeasures. The focus is on advancing research and development, involving relevant stakeholders, and facilitating the transition of research into market-ready solutions. The call specifically targets the development of rapid detection and diagnostic tools for CBRN agents, including biotoxins, and supports threat-agnostic medical countermeasures and platform approaches to treat injuries resulting from CBRN incidents. The overall goal is to enhance the EU's preparedness and response capabilities against intentional health threats.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant types are not explicitly stated in the provided text. However, based on the nature of the EU4Health Programme and the focus on research and development, eligible applicants could include universities, research institutes, SMEs, large enterprises, and other organizations involved in health-related research and innovation. The mention of "end users and security practitioners" suggests that government agencies and security-related organizations might also be eligible or should be involved in the projects.

Funding Type: The primary financial mechanism is a grant, specifically "EU4H Project Grants (EU4H-PJG)." The type of Model Grant Agreement (MGA) is "EU4H Action Grant Budget-Based [EU4H-AG]."

Consortium Requirement: The text does not explicitly state whether a single applicant or a consortium is required. However, the partner search announcements and the complex nature of the projects suggest that consortia are likely encouraged or even required.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The geographic eligibility is not explicitly stated, but given that it is an EU4Health Programme, it is highly likely that the primary geographic eligibility is for entities located in the EU and potentially associated countries. Section 6 of the call document, which is not provided, likely contains the specific details on eligible countries.

Target Sector: The program targets the health sector, specifically focusing on medical countermeasures for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) threats. It also targets the security sector by involving end users and security practitioners. The program supports advanced research and development, innovation, and market access within the health and security domains.

Mentioned Countries: No specific countries are mentioned in the provided text. The focus is on the European Union as a whole.

Project Stage: The project stage ranges from advanced research and development to market readiness. The call aims to bridge the gap between research, innovation, market access, and deployment. It supports activities from advanced R&D to tech and entrepreneurial skills development, suggesting projects at various stages of maturity are eligible.

Funding Amount: The funding amounts vary depending on the specific topic.
EU4H-2025-HERA-PJ-1-a has a budget of €18,000,000.
EU4H-2025-HERA-PJ-1-b and EU4H-2025-HERA-PJ-1-c each have a budget of €1,000,000.
EU4H-2025-HERA-PJ-2 has a budget of €10,000,000.

Application Type: The application type is an open call, as indicated by "Open For Submission." The submission process is single-stage.

Nature of Support: The beneficiaries will receive money in the form of grants to support their projects.

Application Stages: The application process is single-stage.

Success Rates: The success rates are not mentioned in the provided text.

Co-funding Requirement: The text does not explicitly mention whether co-funding is required.

Summary:

This EU4Health Programme call, specifically the EU4H HERA Action Grants 2025 (EU4H-2025-HERA-PJ), aims to bolster the European Union's preparedness against chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) threats. The call seeks to advance medical countermeasures from the research phase through to market readiness. The focus is on supporting advanced research and development, involving end-users and security practitioners, and facilitating the development of tech and entrepreneurial skills. The objective is to improve the EU's ability to respond to intentional health threats, including cross-border ones, by developing medical countermeasures for CBRN agents where treatment options are limited or nonexistent. The call supports advanced research on threat-agnostic medical countermeasures and platform approaches to treat injuries from CBRN agents. The call is structured around several topics with varying budgets, ranging from €1,000,000 to €18,000,000. The application process is single-stage, with a deadline of December 4, 2025. Applicants are expected to submit their proposals electronically through the Funding & Tenders Portal. The program encourages collaboration and partnership, as indicated by the partner search announcements. The call provides various supporting documents, including the call document, application form templates, model grant agreements, and guidance documents. For any queries or assistance, applicants can contact HaDEA-HP-CALLS@ec.europa.eu or refer to the Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ and IT Helpdesk.