Cardiac amyloidosis (CA) is a serious and progressive infiltrative disease that is caused by the deposition of amyloid fibrils at the cardiac level.¹ Although considered a rare disease, recent data suggest that cardiac amyloidosis is underappreciated as a cause of common cardiac diseases or syndromes.¹

The diagnosis of cardiac amyloidosis depends on a high degree of clinical suspicion and is often delayed due to the lack of disease awareness and the heterogeneity of symptoms at presentation.² By the time diagnosis is made quality of life is often poor.³ CA tends to lead to progressive heart failure and is associated with significantly reduced survival.³

With healthcare provider interest in improving the care of patients with CA, the development of an optimal care pathway for the condition may help to reduce delays in diagnosis and treatment and thus enhance patient outcomes.³


It is our intent to support projects that focus on increasing the capacity of the UK health care system to improve patient pathways, to enable a timely accurate diagnosis and ensure appropriate treatment of cardiac amyloidosis. We are interested in receiving proposals that:

• Reduce the time to correct diagnosis amongst a broad audience of health care professionals (HCPs), by increasing disease awareness, ensuring accurate diagnostic processes and coordination across specialties and primary care through local hub and spoke programmes

• Support the development of specialist amyloidosis diagnostic and/or treatment centres that provide leadership, best practice and training of HCPs within a multidisciplinary framework, aiming to enhance the quality of care for patients with cardiac amyloidosis, particularly those in underserved populations

• Include innovative screening programmes, focusing on identifying patients who may be at higher risk of cardiac amyloidosis 

• Build on evidence and international best practice

• Include a robust and well-defined plan for evaluation

• Projects that include a clear activity timeline, detailing key milestones and feasibility for completion within 18 months.

Projects covering the following areas are out of scope of this request for proposals:

• Projects bearing the name or class of specific medicines

• Projects designed to increase the uptake of a single therapeutic agent or intervention 

• Applications for funding of services which should be provided as standard within the NHS

• Interventional or observational studies

• In vitro or in vivo (animal) studies

• Non-interventional studies, such as epidemiological studies

• Outcomes research studies where the primary focus is to understand the results of particular healthcare practices and interventions as well as to monitor and improve the quality of care

• Other types of independent research on disease states, including novel diagnostic screening tools and surveys

Pfizer processes these applications through the Pfizer Global Medical Grants System. This enables the review and consideration of an individual grant request submission from a healthcare organisation, which is intended to support an independent medical and/or scientific initiative of that healthcare organisation. The chosen initiative should be intended for quality improvement and to improve patient outcomes, in an area of unmet medical need that is aligned with Pfizer’s medical and/or scientific strategies. 

For all independent grants, the grant requester and the healthcare organisation grantee are responsible for the design, implementation, sponsorship, and conduct of the independent initiative supported by the grant, including compliance with any regulatory requirements. Pfizer must not be involved in any aspect of the project development, nor the conduct or monitoring of the initiative. At the end of the project, all successful Grant Recipients will be expected to provide Pfizer with a short, high level information summary report on the effectiveness of the project, such as outcomes for patients and the NHS.

Pfizer invites grant proposals from healthcare organisations that are legal entities in their own right, not individuals or single general practices. Collaborations within institutions (e.g., between departments and/or inter-professional), as well as between different institutions /
organisations / associations, are encouraged. Please note all partners must have a relevant role and the requesting organisation must have a key role in the project.

Projects requesting up to £33k will be considered. The total available budget related to this project is £200k and Pfizer anticipates funding 4-6 projects.

 

How to apply

This is a Competitive Grant Programme which uses an external expert panel to make final grant decisions, based on the panel’s evaluation of the proposal and the costs involved set out in the ‘Improving awareness and diagnosis of patient with cardiac amyloidosis request for proposals’.