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DEPARTMENT OF WAR - CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED MEDICAL RESEARCH PROGRAMS
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  5. 2026 Breast Cancer Research Program

Breast Cancer

NEWS RELEASE

Released: February 10, 2026

Defense Health Agency Research and Development
Medical Research and Development Command
Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs
Breast Cancer Research Program
Anticipated Funding Opportunities for Fiscal Year 2026

The FY26 Defense Appropriations Act provides funding for the BCRP to support innovative, high-impact research with clinical relevance that will accelerate progress to end breast cancer for Service Members and their Families, Veterans and the general public. As part of the DHA R&D-MRDC, the CDMRP is the program office managing these anticipated FY26 funding opportunities.

The BCRP provides the information in this pre-announcement to allow investigators time to plan and develop ideas for submission to the anticipated FY26 funding opportunities. Investigators should not construe this pre-announcement as an obligation or promise by the government. The CDMRP will post FY26 BCRP funding opportunity announcements on the Grants.gov website. Once released, the funding opportunity announcements will include pre-application and application deadlines.

Applications submitted to the FY26 BCRP must address one or more of the following overarching challenges:

  • Prevent breast cancer (primary prevention)
  • Identify determinants of breast cancer initiation, risk or susceptibility
  • Distinguish deadly from non-deadly breast cancers
  • Conquer the problems of overdiagnosis and overtreatment
  • Identify what drives breast cancer growth; determine how to stop it
  • Identify why some breast cancers become metastatic
  • Determine why/how breast cancer cells lie dormant for years and then re-emerge; determine how to prevent lethal recurrence
  • Revolutionize treatment regimens by replacing them with ones that do all of the following: improve survival, are more effective and are less toxic
  • Eliminate the mortality associated with metastatic breast cancer

Award Mechanism Eligibility Key Mechanism Elements Funding
Breakthrough Award
Four different funding levels are anticipated for FY26. 		Funding Levels 1 and 2
  • Investigators at all academic levels, or equivalent.
  • Encourages applications naming post-doctoral fellows as principal investigator.
  • New for FY26: Only one application may name the same investigator as PI or initiating PI and only one additional application as a partnering PI for the Breakthrough Award Levels 1 and 2 mechanism.
Funding Level 3 and Funding Level 4
  • Independent investigators at all academic levels, or equivalent.
  • No limit on the number of pre-applications naming the same investigator as PI, initiating PI or partnering PI for the Breakthrough Award Level 3 and Breakthrough Award Level 4 mechanisms.
  • Supports promising research with high potential to lead to or make breakthroughs in breast cancer.
  • Potential impact may be near-term or long-term, but must move beyond a minor advancement and demonstrate the potential to lead to a fundamentally new strategy or approach for preventing or ending breast cancer that is significantly more effective than current strategies or approaches.
  • Partnering PI Option: Supports meaningful and productive partnerships between two investigators, termed the initiating PI and partnering PI, collaborating on a single application.
  • Each funding level has a defined research scope.
  • Funding Level 1: Innovative, high-risk/high-reward research in the earliest stages of idea development, or an untested theory that addresses an important problem. Proof of concept is the anticipated outcome. Applications do not require preliminary data. Applications cannot support clinical trials. The BCRP requires submission of a letter of intent prior to full application submission.
  • Funding Level 2: Research already supported by substantial preliminary or published data in breast cancer that strongly validates clinical translation in a well-defined context within the breast cancer landscape. Applications cannot support clinical trials. The BCRP requires submission of a letter of intent prior to full application submission.
    • Funding Level 2 – Population Science Studies: Studies that focus on the analysis of human data and biospecimens.
  • Funding Level 3: Advanced translational studies. Where relevant, the application must include proof of availability of and access to necessary data, samples, cohort(s) and/or critical reagents. If the project will ultimately require U.S. Food and Drug Administration or an equivalent international regulatory agency involvement, the project must demonstrate availability of, and access to, clinical reagents and subject population(s). Applications must include a realistic timeline for near-term clinical research. Applications allow, but do not require, small-scale clinical trials. Applications must include two or more consumer advocates on the research team. The BCRP requires submission of a preproposal; application submission is by invitation only.
  • Funding Level 4: Large-scale projects, including comparative effectiveness trials, that will transform and revolutionize the clinical management and/or prevention of breast cancer. Applications must include a clinical trial. The PI(s) should demonstrate experience successfully leading large-scale projects and implementing a clinical project. Where relevant, the application must include proof of availability of and access to necessary data, samples, cohort(s) and/or critical reagents. If the proposed research will require U.S. Food and Drug Administration or an equivalent international regulatory agency involvement, project readiness requirements at the time of application submission include: proof of availability of and access to clinical reagents that meet regulatory compliance guidelines; proof of availability of and access to appropriate subject population(s); validated projections for patient recruitment, and a proof of submission of an Investigational New Drug, Investigational Device Exemption or equivalent to the relevant regulatory agency. Applications must include two or more consumer advocates on the research team. The BCRP requires submission of a preproposal; application submission is by invitation only.
 Funding Level 1
  • Maxiumum period of performance is 3 years
  • Maxiumum allowable funding:
    • Single PI: $750,000 for total costs*
    • Partnering PI Option: $1.25 million for total costs*
Funding Level 2
  • Maxiumum period of performance is 3 years
  • Maxiumum allowable funding:
    • Single PI: $1.65M for total costs*
    • Partnering PI Option: $2.5M for total costs*
    • Population Science Studies with Single PI: $2.5M for total costs*
    • Population Science Studies - Partnering PI Option: $3.35M for total costs*
Funding Level 3
  • Maxiumum period of performance is 4 years
  • Maxiumum allowable funding:
    • Single PI: $5.6M for total costs*
    • Partnering PI Option: $7M for total costs*
Funding Level 4
  • Maxiumum period of performance is 4 years
  • Maxiumum allowable funding is $21M for total costs*
Era of Hope Scholar Award Independent, non-mentored investigators within 6 years of their last training position as of the application submission deadline, excluding time spent on family medical leave.
  • Supports exceptionally talented, early-career scientists who demonstrate they are the "best and brightest" in their fields through extraordinary creativity, vision, innovation and productivity.
  • The PI should articulate a vision that challenges current dogma and demonstrates an ability to look beyond tradition and convention.
  • The PI must demonstrate experience in forming effective partnerships and collaborations and exhibit strong potential for future leadership in breast cancer.
  • Applications must include two or more consumer advocates on the research team.
  • The BCRP requires submission of a letter of intent prior to full application submission.
  • Maximum period of performance is 4 years
  • Maximum allowable funding is $4.9M for total costs*
Clinical Research Extension Award Independent investigators at all academic levels, or equivalent.
  • Supports research that extends the data collection, follow-up and analysis of breast cancer clinical research studies.
  • Intended to increase the clinically relevant impact of breast cancer patient participation in clinical research by addressing the knowledge lost due to early termination, limited patient follow-up, or suboptimal sample and/or data collection and analysis.
  • Although not all-inclusive, research proposed under this mechanism may entail a deeper molecular analysis of clinical samples, initiation of new correlative studies, biomarker validation or continuing clinical follow-up of patients enrolled in an open, ongoing or completed clinical trial. The proposed research may test or generate hypotheses or be designed to generate clinically annotated and molecularly characterized experimental platforms, including patient-derived models or tissue arrays. Applications cannot support projects proposing the initiation of a new clinical trial or study or enroll new patients in an open or ongoing clinical trial or study.
  • Applications must include two or more consumer advocates on the research team.
  • Partnering PI Option: Supports meaningful and productive partnerships between two investigators, termed the initiating PI and partnering PI, collaborating on a single application.
  • The BCRP requires submission of a letter of intent prior to full application submission.
  • Maximum period of performance is 4 years
  • Maximum allowable funding:
    • Single PI: $7M for total costs*
    • Partnering PI Option: $8.4M for total costs*
Transformative Breast Cancer Consortium Award Independent investigators at all academic levels, or equivalent.
  • Supports collaborations and ideas that will transform the lives of individuals with and/or at-risk for breast cancer and will significantly accelerate progress toward ending breast cancer.
  • Requires synergistic, highly integrated, multidisciplinary and multi-institutional research teams of leading scientists, clinicians and consumer advocates who will assemble into a consortium to address a major problem in a way that a single investigator or group could not accomplish.
  • The consortium should include at least four, but no more than five, project teams, each investigating different projects under a central hypothesis. One institution may support no more than two project teams. Each team’s work must integrate within the consortium so every component works toward the consortium’s central hypothesis.
  • Applications may include clinical trials up to and including phase 1 or equivalent; however, applications do not require proposing a clinical trial and should not consist primarily of a clinical trial.
  • The consortium must include at least one consumer advocate per project team.
  • The BCRP requires submission of a preproposal; application submission is by invitation only.
  • Maximum period of performance is 4 years
  • Maximum allowable funding of $35M for total costs*
Transformative Breast Cancer Consortium Development Award Independent investigators at all academic levels, or equivalent.
  • Provides the time and resources needed to bring investigators and breast cancer advocates together to establish a consortium framework and conduct preliminary research to support the application to a future, full Transformative Breast Cancer Consortium Award, pending availability of funds.
  • Supports the following: (1) development of the infrastructure of a multi-institutional research team inclusive of scientists, clinicians and breast cancer advocates; (2) generation of necessary preliminary data to serve as proof of concept or for project integration; (3) acquisition of research resources; and (4) development of a framework of necessary statistical analyses.
  • Applications must include consumer advocate(s) on the research team.
  • The BCRP requires submission of a letter of intent prior to full application submission.
  • Maximum period of performance is 1 year
  • Maximum allowable funding of $140,000 for total costs*
*Total costs include direct and indirect costs.

Before full application submission, the CDMRP requires submission of a pre-application through the electronic Biomedical Research Application Portal, eBRAP, prior to the pre-application deadline. All applications must conform to the final funding opportunity announcements available for downloading from Grants.gov. To obtain a listing of all CDMRP funding opportunities on the Grants.gov website, perform a basic search using CFDA number 12.420.

To receive email notifications upon release of funding opportunity announcements, subscribe to program-specific news and updates under "Email Subscriptions" on the eBRAP homepage. For more information about the BCRP or other CDMRP-administered programs, please visit the CDMRP website.

Point of Contact:
CDMRP Public Affairs
301-619-7071
dha.detrick.cdmrp.mbx.public-affairs@health.mil


Last updated Tuesday, February 10, 2026