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Prostate Cancer

NEWS RELEASE

Released: March 28, 2025

Department of Defense
Defense Health Agency Research and Development -
Medical Research and Development Command
Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP)
Prostate Cancer Research Program
Anticipated Funding Opportunities for Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25)

The Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act of 2025 provides $650M in funding for the CDMRP. Congress provided further guidance for CDMRP program-level funding, including funding for the Prostate Cancer Research Program (PCRP). The FY25 PCRP intends to support innovative, high-impact prostate cancer research. The CDMRP is part of the Defense Health Agency Research and Development at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC) and is the program office managing these anticipated FY25 funding opportunities.

The PCRP is providing the information in this pre-announcement to allow investigators time to plan and develop ideas for submission to the anticipated FY25 funding opportunities. This pre-announcement should not be construed as an obligation by the government. The FY25 PCRP funding opportunity announcements for the following award mechanisms will be posted on the Grants.gov website. Pre-application and application deadlines will be available when the announcements are released.

The mission of the FY25 PCRP is to fund research that will eliminate death and suffering from prostate cancer and enhance the well-being of Service Members and their Families, Veterans, and all the patients and caregivers who are experiencing the impact of the disease. Within this context, the PCRP is interested in supporting research that addresses specific gaps in prostate cancer research and clinical care; therefore, applications are required to address one or more of the following FY25 PCRP Overarching Challenges:

  • Improve quality of life to enhance outcomes and overall health and wellness for those impacted by prostate cancer
    Applications should aim to mitigate the impact of prostate cancer on the quality of life of the cancer survivor, their family, their caregivers and their community with the goal of improving and enhancing quality of life and overall health and wellness. Studies should consider both short- and long-term quality-of-life outcomes. Areas of particular interest include:
    • Biological basis of disease and treatment on quality of life
    • The mental health of patients and their families/caregivers
    • Identification of groups of patients and their families at high risk of quality-of-life detriments
    • Implementation of factors or interventions that improve access to evidence-based care, quality-of-life outcomes, and overall health and wellness
  • Develop new treatments or improve upon existing therapies to improve outcomes for patients with lethal prostate cancer
    Applications must be directly related to prostate cancer with a high risk of death, including high-risk localized disease, regional disease and/or metastatic prostate cancer.
    Treatments may address any stage in the continuum of care, including local therapies such as surgery or radiation designed to treat patients with a high risk of death from the disease. Proposed treatments are highly encouraged to consider preserving patient quality of life and not focus only on survival outcomes.
    Applications should not focus on active surveillance, low-risk and intermediate-risk prostate cancer, and/or biochemical recurrence. Refer to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines for risk assessment definitions (https://www.nccn.org/patients/guidelines/content/PDF/prostate-advanced-patient.pdf).
  • Improve access to optimal care for all patients with prostate cancer
    *Special emphasis on high-risk groups
    Applications must be directly relevant to better understanding and/or reduction of factors that impact a person, their family, or their caregiver's ability to prevent, detect, manage, and survive prostate cancer.
    Factors may include physical, mental or emotional health differences, as well as social and financial differences experienced primarily in populations at high-risk for prostate cancer, including Service Members and Veterans.
  • Define the biology of prostate cancer progression to lethal prostate cancer to reduce death
    Applications must be directly related to high-risk, very high-risk and metastatic prostate cancer. The FY25 PCRP also strongly encourages research involving patient-derived materials or specimens related to ongoing or completed clinical trials.
    Refer to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines for risk assessment definitions (https://www.nccn.org/patients/guidelines/content/PDF/prostate-advanced-patient.pdf).

Award Mechanism Eligibility Key Mechanism Elements Funding
Clinical Consortium Award
Modified for FY25 		Independent investigators with a faculty-level appointment (or equivalent)
  • Supports a consortium that will facilitate the rapid execution of collaborative phase 2 or phase 1/2 clinical trials that will bring to market high-impact, novel therapeutic interventions, which will significantly decrease the impact of prostate cancer.
  • One Coordinating Center and up to 11 Clinical Research Sites will be selected and will be jointly responsible for proposing, selecting, and conducting trials.
  • Funds may not be used for research or development of clinical protocols.
  • Applications should place significant emphasis on the incorporation of patients from high-risk and/or military populations (e.g., Service Members, Veterans).
  • Coordinating Center applications will identify two or more Affiliate Clinical Research Sites that must specialize in the recruitment of patients from high-risk populations to be supported and managed by the Coordinating Center.
  • Clinical Research Sites must provide plans for accruing patients from high-risk populations.
 Coordinating Center:
  • Maximum funding of $7.6 million (M) for direct costs (plus indirect costs), including no less than $500,000 per year for support of two more more Affiliate Clinical Research Sites.
  • Maximum period of performance is 4 years
Clinical Research Sites:
  • Maximum funding of $1.4M for total costs (plus indirect costs).
  • Maximum period of performance is 4 years
Idea Development Award Established Investigators:
Independent investigators at all levels.
New Investigators:
Investigators who meet the following criteria at the application submission deadline date:
  • Have the freedom to pursue individual aims without formal mentorship
  • Have not previously received a non-mentored PCRP Award (excluding the Exploration Hypothesis-Development Award)
  • Have either completed at least 3 years of postdoctoral training or fellowship or are within 10 years after completion of terminal degree (excluding residency or family medical leave)
  • Supports new ideas that represent innovative approaches to prostate cancer research and have the potential to make an important contribution to one or more of the FY25 PCRP Overarching Challenges.
  • Emphasis is equally placed on Innovation and Impact.
  • Preliminary data are encouraged, but not required.
  • Clinical research is allowed.
  • Clinical trials are not allowed.
  • Each investigator may be named as PI on only one application.
  • Multidisciplinary projects are encouraged, and multi-institutional projects are allowed.
  • New Investigator Category: The FY25 PCRP Idea Development Award mechanism encourages research ideas from investigators in the early stages of their careers. Applications submitted to the New Investigator category will be assessed using different review criteria for personnel and are required to include a collaborator(s) who has experience in prostate cancer research.
 Established Investigators:
  • Maximum funding of $1.2M for direct costs (plus indirect costs).
  • Maximum period of performance is 3 years
New Investigators:
  • Maximum funding of $1.5M for direct costs (plus indirect costs).
  • Maximum period of performance is 4 years

A pre-application is required and must be submitted through the electronic Biomedical Research Application Portal (eBRAP) at https://eBRAP.org prior to the pre-application deadline. All applications must conform to the final funding opportunity announcements that will be available for downloading from the Grants.gov website. The application package containing the required forms for each award mechanism will also be found on Grants.gov. A listing of all CDMRP and other USAMRDC extramural funding opportunities can be obtained on the Grants.gov website by performing a basic search using CFDA Number 12.420.

Submission deadlines are not available until the funding opportunity announcements are released. For email notification when announcements are released, subscribe to program-specific news and updates under "Email Subscriptions" on the eBRAP homepage at https://eBRAP.org. For more information about the PCRP or other CDMRP-administered programs, please visit the CDMRP website (https://cdmrp.health.mil).

Point of Contact:
CDMRP Public Affairs
301-619-9783
dha.detrick.cdmrp.mbx.public-affairs@health.mil


Last updated Monday, March 31, 2025


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