[1] The fund offers flexible support for cutting edge, multidisciplinary, multi-investigator and higher risk research.
[2][3] It is intended to streamline US biomedical research and make it more flexible in response to society's health needs.
[4] Common Fund programs are expected to transform the way a broad spectrum of health research is conducted.
Initiatives that comprise Common Fund programs are intended to be catalytic in nature by providing limited term investments in strategic areas to stimulate further research through IC-funded mechanisms.
[5] In 2008, the NIH released a "Request for Information (RFI): To Solicit Ideas for Common Fund/Roadmap Trans-NIH Strategic Initiatives," soliciting ideas from the scientific, medical and patient advocate communities about the kinds of initiatives to be supported by the fund.