Grants Office

Grants

Biogen’s global grants strategy aims to catalyze scientific innovation, address unmet patient needs, and advance medical and disease education through funding a variety of programs and initiatives.

Medical Education Grant

Funding to an eligible institution or organization to support independent medical educational activities for HCPs and researchers. Medical education may be accredited or non-accredited.

Patient Education Grant

Funding to an eligible institution or organization to support independent educational activities for patients or caregivers. 

General Grant

Funding to support a project or program that does not fit any of the other defined grant categories.

Infrastructure Grant

Funding for infrastructure upgrades for healthcare organizations or institutions. 
Grants are accepted in Europe (excluding Finland, Netherlands, Norway, and Spain), Latin America and Middle East.

Only applications that meet Biogen’s defined Areas of Interest criteria will be considered. Please go to the Areas of Interest section to review the area of interest before applying.

Areas of Interest

Biogen considers requests in the following disease areas

  US & Canada Asia Pacific Europe Latin America Middle East
AD
ALS
FA
Lupus
MS
SMA

 

 

Application Submission Cycles

Grant requests will be accepted and reviewed on a quarterly basis as outlined below:

Submission Cycle
Open Date
Submission Cycle
Deadline Date
Decision
Notification Date
January 1 January 31 March 30
April 1 April 30 June 30
July 1 July 31 September 30
October 1 October 31 December 18

*Grant requests that do not meet disease areas of interest or funding categories are ineligible for review.

Requests should be submitted during the submission cycle in the quarter prior to when a funding decision is needed.
Biogen reserves the right to decline any applications not adhering to the published submission cycles.

Application Requirements and Organization Eligibility

To be considered for a grant, the following criteria must be met:

  • Grant request must be unsolicited
  • Grant request must not provide tangible benefit to Biogen
  • Grant request must be submitted for a future project or program
  • Funding amount requested must reflect a real and fair market value for the proposed activities *
  • Funding from other pharmaceutical/biotechnology companies, in addition to Biogen, is preferred (e.g. multiple sources of funding)
  • Funds are not granted to directly or indirectly encourage recipients to purchase or prescribe Biogen's products or services
  • Funding is permitted only to legally established organizations; a grant cannot be provided to individuals **
  • Requesting organization must be registered for more than 2 years
  • Requesting organization must confirm receipt of payment and verify how funds were used for all previous Biogen supported activities
  • Requesting organization and grant request must be in full compliance with all regional and local codes, laws and industry regulations, including, but not limited to anti-corruption, transparency and privacy laws and regulations

Biogen will conduct appropriate due diligence on all requesting organizations and grant requests.
Biogen reserves the right to deny any grant request that does not meet application and eligibility requirements.
Biogen must not provide any substantive input or assistance to a requesting organization in drafting or submitting a grant request.
Biogen may modify the grant application and eligibility requirements at any time.

For Infrastructure Grant:

  • * Infrastructure Grant request may not exceed $20,000 USD
  • ** Requesting organization must be a not-for-profit organization
Funding Limitations and Restrictions

Separation from Commercial Initiatives                 

Grant requests from organizations that provide commercial services (e.g. marketing or promotional) to Biogen are thoroughly reviewed to ensure appropriate separation (firewalls) exists between the part of the organization providing commercial services to Biogen and the part of the organization seeking grant funding.

Third Parties

If a third-party provider will be utilized to implement the proposed project or program, the provider must not be owned in whole or in part by, or controlled by:

  • A practicing physician or other HCP
  • A group practice of physicians or other HCPs
  • An individual who is an immediate family member of a practicing physician or other HCP

Limitations and Restrictions

Grant applications are subject to specific limitations and restrictions on how funding may be used. Please select a grant type to view the applicable requirements for your region.

Medical Education Grant
Patient Education Grant
General Grant
Infrastructure Grant
Review Process

All grant requests are reviewed according to the published application submission cycles.

Biogen has a formal, centralized grant review and decision-making process. Several factors are considered during this process including, but not limited to, the following:

For Medical Education Grant, Patient Education Grant and General Grant:

  • Alignment to areas of interest
  • Project or program format
  • Needs assessment summary
  • Educational/grant objectives
  • Target learners/participants
  • Funding amount requested
  • Proposed project or program outcomes (effectiveness)

For Infrastructure Grant:

  • Alignment to areas of interest
  • Needs assessment summary
  • Project objectives
  • Funding amount requested

To confirm Biogen’s independence from the requesting organization, the annual operating costs (total reportable expenses) of the organization are reviewed. The annual operating costs, which must be from either of the last 2 fiscal years, will be compared to the total funding provided to the requesting organization by Biogen on a rolling twelve (12) month-basis.

Decisions and Communications

Funding decisions for grants are based on the quality of the proposal, alignment with Biogen’s grants strategy and budget availability. Decision notifications will be communicated in writing.

Contracting and Payment

All recipient organizations must abide by the terms and conditions as outlined in the Biogen Letter of Agreement (LOA)/contract. The LOA/contract is issued electronically to an authorized signatory of the organization once an application is approved. A fully executed LOA/contract is required prior to the start of the project or program.

Payment will be issued upon execution of the LOA/contract.

Project / Program Execution

Recipient organizations shall acknowledge support from Biogen in a non-promotional manner as permitted by local codes, laws and regulations.

Changes to an awarded grant (e.g. format, dates, audience), must be reviewed and approved by Biogen prior to the start of the project or program. To determine if funding may continue, organizations should submit the proposed changes by logging into the Biogen portal and submitting a Change of Scope for review.

Organizations may be asked to provide status updates and outcomes/progress reports throughout the course of the project or program's implementation.

Reconciliation

Once the project or program concludes, a reconciliation must be completed by the recipient organization. The reconciliation confirms:

  • Receipt of payment
  • Funding was used appropriately (as described in the letter of agreement/contract)
  • Grant objectives were achieved

This reconciliation must be completed through the Biogen portal within 90 days of the project or program end date. After 90 days, the reconciliation is considered overdue. Recipient organizations are not eligible to receive new funding until all overdue reconciliations are submitted and approved.

Transparency

Biogen adheres to global transparency and disclosure reporting obligations in accordance with local regulations.

Submit your application today