Reimagining the Future of Vaccines: DTRA's RAVEN RFI
The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), through its Joint Science and Technology Office (JSTO), has announced a new Request for Information (RFI) under the initiative titled Reimagining Available Vaccines and Envisioning Novelty (RAVEN). This RFI reflects DTRA’s responsibility to prepare the U.S. warfighter for current and emerging biological threats. With a forward-leaning focus on innovation, the RAVEN initiative aims to catalyze the development of next-generation vaccine platforms that are both multivalent and novel.
RAVEN is not a solicitation for funding, but a strategic inquiry designed to inform future program planning. DTRA is calling on the life sciences community, non-profit research institutions, biotechnology companies, and vaccine developers to share their most forward-thinking, early-stage vaccine technologies that push beyond the incremental improvements of existing platforms.
Overcoming Vaccine Platform Stagnation
Despite numerous successes in the field of vaccinology, most 21st-century vaccine developments have leveraged existing platforms with minor modifications; DTRA terms these incremental innovations as “lateral expansion.” This process, while effective in responding to individual threats, has created a feedback loop in which technological novelty is deprioritized over lateral expansion. RAVEN seeks to disrupt this cycle.
The RFI outlines three core areas of capability information sought:
- Evaluate the limits of existing vaccine platforms to determine how far they can be pushed in terms of multivalent capacity. This includes assessing whether a single platform can defend against multiple pathogen strains or families.
- Increase the capabilities of established vaccine platforms to target multivalent capacity.
- Identify and evaluate novel vaccine platforms that have never been tested at the human level. This core area also emphasizes platforms capable of addressing multiple threats simultaneously and offering radical improvements in efficacy, immunogenicity, delivery, and storage.
Respondents are encouraged to provide details on vaccine design strategy, route of administration, manufacturing status, regulatory history, and any existing preclinical (in vitro or animal model) data. Monovalent vaccine adaptations using legacy platforms are specifically not of interest to this RFI.
Submission Deadline and Instructions
Interested respondents should prepare a 2 to 10-page submission, due by 5 pm ET on June 13, 2025. Responses should be submitted to the email address listed in the RFI with the responding organization and RFI title in the subject line.
Funding Outlook and Strategic Impact
While this RFI is for informational planning only and does not guarantee a future solicitation, it is a strong signal that DTRA intends to pivot toward more transformative vaccine technologies. Responding to RAVEN may help position your organization as a front-runner in future opportunities targeting vaccine innovation.
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