Prostate Cancer Research Funding

Protect and Grow Research Funding that Leads to New Treatment and Detection Options

The Federal Government annually invests millions of dollars for prostate cancer research through the Prostate Cancer Research Program (PCRP) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

While it is important to protect this funding, ZERO also seeks to increase the amount allocated toward prostate cancer research. Federal funding for prostate cancer research has accounted for, on average, only five percent of our nation's annual cancer research budget. However, prostate cancer is responsible for about 19 percent of all cancer cases and eight percent of cancer deaths in men. It is vital that we protect and grow federal funding in order to ensure researchers have resources to develop new treatments and early detection methods.

Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Research Program

The PCRP, part of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) at the Department of Defense, is one of the most effective programs in the world designed to produce treatments and, one day, a cure for prostate cancer. Funding from the PCRP has supported the development of six new treatments for advanced disease (including XGEVA®, ZYTIGA®, XTANDI®, and ERLEADA®) as well at one advanced diagnostic (Oncotype DX AR-V7) in the last decade. The PCRP was also instrumental in accelerating the approval of ZYTIGA® (abiraterone acetate) by two years. The program is now focused on improving diagnosis to reduce overtreatment and accurately determine life-threating disease from indolent tumors.

It's been two decades since the federal government's most successful prostate cancer research initiative had $100M in funding. We are pleased that through the efforts of ZERO Champions and the broader prostate cancer community, Congress is now funding the PCRP at its fiscal year (FY) 2001 level.

We urge Congress to provide $110 million for the PCRP in the FY2020.

Prostate Cancer Prevention and Education Funding at the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention

ZERO is working to increase funding by $2 million to $15.2 million for prostate cancer awareness and education. Specifically, this additional $2M will be used for a new CDC program to provide targeted outreach and education to high-risk men, including men with a family history and African-American men. The President's FY2019 and FY2020 budget requests both eliminated funding within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) comprehensive cancer control program for prostate cancer activities. This funding supports the development and dissemination of content to help patients and providers have a better-informed discussion about treatment options. It also provides needed funding for important surveillance activities that help providers, epidemiologists, and researchers better understand the disease, its incidence, and progression.

We urge Congress to protect prostate cancer prevention and education funding and provide $15.2 million for the CDC in the FY 2020.

Prostate Cancer Research Funding in the National Cancer Institute Funded Research Portfolio

The National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is responsible for the nation's largest prostate cancer research program. Currently, NCI Funded Research Portfolio (NFRP) has over $255 million allocated for prostate cancer research.

Source: NCI Funded Research Portfolio. Only projects with assigned common scientific outline area codes are included. A description of relevant research projects can be found on the NCI Funded Research Portfolio website.¹

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^{1. Source: The National Cancer Institute (NCI)}