Saving lives with Emergency Medical Perfluorocarbons

The Force Health Protection Program of the Warfighter Performance Department at the Office of Naval Research (Code 342) is soliciting full proposals for Saving Lives with Emergency Medical Perflourocarbons in the Field (SEMPer Fi). Statement of Problem: Combat readiness and mission effectiveness are at risk of negative impact from extreme environmental conditions. Environmental stresses can impair soldiers' cognitive and physical abilities. Current military operations require the Warfighter to perform underwater (in underwater sites with unique hazards including decompression sickness and hyperbaria), at altitude (at elevations that may induce hypoxia, mountain sickness, high altitude pulmonary/cerebral edema), and on land (where blast poses serious risks). Current methods of mitigating environmental hazards are not deployable far forward, or have long-lasting side effects. The requirement is for medical technologies that are deployable as far forward as possible in the medical care system. Objective: To develop medical technologies that address risks associated with operations in extreme environments (at altitude and on land). Medical devices will need to obtain FDA approval (510k), and biologics and pharmaceuticals will need to obtain Investigational New Drug (IND) approval and complete Phase I clinical trials, if not already approved. If already approved, biologics and pharmaceuticals must be approved for the new indication. It is anticipated that individual proposals will be submitted to three separate topic areas: (1) RESERVED, (2) SEMPer Fi at Altitude AND (3) SEMPer Fi on Land (blast).