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I am seeking EUR 13,500 for four months of part-time work to create a public evidence map of oral combinations of non-opioid ingredients of natural origin studied for chronic pain. The outputs will be a source-linked evidence catalogue, an English research report and a short Italian summary.
The project will establish what combinations have actually been tested, which comparisons were made, what benefits and harms were reported, and what cannot be concluded. It is a defined preliminary phase of FREEDOM, an early biomedical concept. This grant will fund a public literature resource, not testing or promotion of a proprietary formulation. Negative or inconclusive findings will be published.
The central question is whether comparative human studies provide evidence about the combination itself, including tolerability and any incremental benefit over an individual ingredient. Evidence about separate ingredients cannot establish that an untested combination works. Placebo comparisons and comparisons that can address the added value of a combination will therefore be distinguished.
The initial scope is adults with pain lasting at least three months who receive an oral preparation containing two or more non-opioid ingredients of natural origin. A dated public protocol will define intervention categories independently of my own candidate formulation, eligibility rules, exact search queries, search dates, and language and access limits. Different pain conditions will be described separately.
I will search PubMed and Europe PMC, check linked trial registrations, and examine references in relevant reviews. An initial duplication check will establish whether an existing review already answers the question. If so, the work will address a documented update or reporting gap. Capacity is up to 40 eligible full-text study reports, not a claim that 40 such reports exist. If the search exceeds this capacity, I will publish a narrower scope before extracting outcomes. Unavailable full texts and exclusion reasons will be logged.
The catalogue will record source identifiers, populations, interventions, comparators, sample sizes, duration, outcomes, adverse events, withdrawals, funding and reported limitations. Where possible, trial registrations will be checked for discrepancies in reported endpoints. Every numerical entry will receive a second check against its source. Missing information will remain marked as missing.
This is an evidence map produced by one reviewer. It will not be described as an independently validated systematic review or a clinical guideline. No pooled effect estimate, treatment recommendation, participant recruitment or experimental intervention is planned.
By the end of month four I will publish the protocol and search log; a downloadable CSV catalogue with stable source links; an English report; a concise Italian summary; and a final report of hours worked, scope changes and limitations. The report and original explanatory text will be freely available under CC BY 4.0. Original catalogue material will be released under CC0 where applicable rights allow. Copyrighted articles and third-party tables will be linked rather than reproduced.
The intended users are research teams, small patient organisations and funders assessing whether a line of research merits further investigation. The deliverable is an inspectable resource that makes the underlying evidence and its limits easier to review. No medical outcome or adoption is promised.
The project budget is EUR 13,500: 300 hours of my own future project work at EUR 45 per hour, over four months from an agreed start date. This is approximately 19 hours per week over 16 weeks.
Protocol, existing-review check and search design — month 1: 50 hours, EUR 2,250.
Searching, screening and source extraction — months 1–2: 110 hours, EUR 4,950.
Evidence synthesis and English report — month 3: 80 hours, EUR 3,600.
Italian summary, source checks and public release — month 4: 60 hours, EUR 2,700.
Total: 300 hours, EUR 13,500.
The full amount is applicant project support for future work. Existing equipment and free resources will be used. There is no laboratory, recruitment, patent, travel or contractor budget. The amount is gross, not a guaranteed personal net amount after applicable taxes or payment charges. The minimum viable funding for this scope is the full requested amount.
Manifund requires USD funding fields. Using the ECB reference rate for 14 September 2026 of EUR 1 = USD 1.1551, EUR 13,500 equals USD 15,593.85. The minimum and maximum funding goals are both USD 15,594, rounded to whole dollars. EUR 13,500 remains the underlying project budget; the actual euro receipt may vary with exchange rates and payment charges.
Monthly progress notes will report work completed and any scope changes. Material changes to the funded purpose, budget or delivery dates will be raised with the funder under the grant agreement. The start date will be agreed to avoid overlapping commitments.
I am Andrea Gambelunghe, based in Rome, Italy. I have more than two decades of experience in technical communication, occupational safety, regulated services and project development. I will carry out the source organisation, extraction, writing and publication. My role in this project is technical research communication.
A non-confidential FREEDOM overview and a development roadmap already exist. The concept has not been experimentally validated, and this proposal does not claim a patented invention or a university partnership. No independent biomedical reviewer has been secured or budgeted for.
I originated FREEDOM and may have a future commercial interest in its development. I will disclose that interest in the public report. Private formulation development, marketing, patent work and licensing are outside this grant. Confidential formulation details are unnecessary for reproducing the public search and extraction method and will not be disclosed.
The literature may be sparse, heterogeneous or inadequately reported, and studies may lack comparators capable of testing the value of combining ingredients. In that case the report will document what cannot be concluded. A negative or inconclusive finding is a valid completed output.
Delivery risks include an unexpectedly large literature, inaccessible full texts and errors from a single reviewer. The protocol, workload ceiling, access log and rechecking of every numerical entry will control scope and make remaining limitations visible. Independent biomedical validation would require a qualified reviewer and is not represented as included.
The resource may attract little external use. I will report observable downloads or substantive feedback without treating them as proof of health impact. I can commit to complete, accessible outputs and transparent reporting, not to endorsement or clinical benefit.
I have received no grants, donations or other project funding in the last 12 months. Total raised: EUR 0.
On 14 September 2026 I submitted a separate Emergent Ventures application for BEFORE YOU SIGN, requesting EUR 13,500 for a bilingual toolkit on evidence in technical approvals. Receipt was confirmed; an award has not been confirmed. It concerns different subject matter and deliverables. I will keep hours and outputs separate, disclose relevant funding developments and avoid charging either funder for work funded by the other.
Exchange-rate source: European Central Bank — US dollar reference rates.