Grants Will Support Critical Research in Early Detection and Better Treatment Options As Well As Funding for Researchers To Build Their Careers in the Pancreatic Cancer Field
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 3, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN), a leading nonprofit in the fight against pancreatic cancer, announced today the recipients of its 2022 research grants program. This year, $10.5 million will be awarded for 16 new grants and PanCAN will extend funding to nine past grantees to continue their highly promising research projects. This research investment is the organization's largest ever in a single year. Along with its transformational scientific and clinical initiatives, including the PanCAN Precision PromiseSM adaptive clinical trial and PanCAN's Early Detection Initiative, the organization's total research investment was $25 million last year.
As the third leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States and with a five-year survival rate of just 11%, pancreatic cancer demands urgent action to save lives. There is currently no standard early detection test for pancreatic cancer and few effective treatments are available, making the ongoing funding of innovative research crucial to solving this challenging disease.
In addition to leading large-scale, groundbreaking research initiatives, PanCAN fund grants for basic, translational and clinical research in pancreatic cancer that go to scientists and clinicians at various career levels. Since 2003, PanCAN's grants program has awarded 234 grants to 213 scientists at 79 institutions. Beyond research funding, grant recipients also gain access to PanCAN's Community for Progress, a cohesive network of researchers focused on improving pancreatic cancer patient outcomes through mentorship and collaboration.
PanCAN's expanded Grants Program is awarding several types of research grants this year falling into three categories: Early Career, supporting investigators establishing independent labs with a focus on pancreatic cancer research; Treatment, focusing on projects designed to develop new and more effective treatment for pancreatic cancer patients; and Early Detection, funding projects seeking to develop better tools to diagnose pancreatic cancer at its earliest stages.
"Thanks to the support of our generous donors, we are proud to be making our largest-ever investment in research grants this year," said Julie Fleshman, JD, MBA, president and CEO of PanCAN. "The innovative projects being funded will advance the field allowing us to better understand how the disease develops and progresses, develop more effective treatments and identify new strategies to diagnose it earlier."
The following researchers are recipients of PanCAN Career Development Awards and Extensions this year:
All newly funded Career Development Award recipients are first-time PanCAN grantees, and three new institutions will receive funding for the first time ever. All grantees and extensions were selected through a thorough, peer-review process.
In the treatment-centric category, PanCAN is awarding two Precision Medicine Targeted Grant extensions and five Translational Research Grant extensions. As well as ? for the first time ever ? PanCAN created its Therapeutic Accelerator Award (TAA), a multimillion-dollar grant to drive the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry to prioritize pancreatic cancer. In addition to the TAA being awarded to Verastem Oncology to conduct an early-phase clinical trial of two investigational targeted therapies, additional funding will be distributed to a TAA Collaborative working group made up of researchers across the country in partnership with Verastem to broaden the scientific understanding of Verastem's proposed treatment combination. Translational experiments will explore ways to understand mechanisms of resistance, potential new combination approaches and ways to identify which patients' tumors may be most likely to respond.
All grantees in this category include:
Additionally, the following researchers are recipients of PanCAN Catalyst Awards, with a focus on early detection and improving diversity and equity in understanding pancreatic cancer genetic risk factors:
We would like to thank Janssen Research & Development, LLC, for the partial support of the REGENERATE project.
Learn more about PanCAN's research investments, visit pancan.org or follow the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) leads the way in accelerating critical progress for pancreatic cancer patients. PanCAN takes bold action by funding life-saving research, providing personalized patient services and creating a community of supporters and volunteers who will stop at nothing to create a world in which all pancreatic cancer patients will thrive.
Media Contact: Julie Vasquez, Director of PR, Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, 310-697-9129 [email protected]
SOURCE Pancreatic Cancer Action Network
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