SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
The Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) today announced that it has funded nine new PCF Challenge Awards in an effort to accelerate scientific discovery and new treatments for prostate cancer patients. These nine awards represent a $9 million investment over a two-year period and were chosen from a pool of 96 applications received from researchers in 10 countries.
Prostate Cancer Foundation Challenge Awards are designed to support cross-disciplinary teams of investigators in strategic areas of prostate cancer research and highly-innovative research projects with potential near-term patient benefits. These awards are given to projects not yet funded by any government or foundation program. The awards were announced after an extensive peer review process. These projects represent a range of focus and expertise that will address the most challenging problems in basic or translational research in prostate cancer.
Two of the nine awards were made possible by a disbursement of unclaimed settlement funds for a class-action lawsuit in the state of Massachusetts, honoring the late Judge A. David Mazzone who passed away from prostate cancer in 2004. Mazzone was a famous Massachusetts litigator who was responsible for suits resulting in the clean-up of the Boston Harbor. In 2011, the first two Judge A. David Mazzone grants were awarded, bringing the total to four.
Three of the nine awards were supported by funding from the 2011 Movember United States campaign, which yielded $5.7 million for the Prostate Cancer Foundation. Supporting Movembers commitment to change the face of mens health, the 2011 donation is being rapidly deployed to fund innovative, high-impact research for better diagnostics, treatment and cures.
More than 28,000 men will lose their life to advanced prostate cancer in 2012, highlighting the immediate need to fund innovative, collaborative research projects, said Howard Soule, PhD, executive vice president and chief science officer of the Prostate Cancer Foundation. These nine Challenge Awards bridge the gap of reductions in federal funding for prostate cancer research, allowing the most promising research ideas to still be funded, with a goal of changing clinical practice and improving outcomes for patients with advanced disease. The Foundation is extremely grateful for the state of Massachusetts, Movember and individual donors who made these awards possible.
The 2012 A. David Mazzone-PCF Challenge Awards:
Martin Pomper, MD, PhD Johns Hopkins Medicine
Promoter-Driven Molecular Radiotherapy for Prostate Cancer
Co-investigators: George Sgouros, PhD (Johns Hopkins Medicine); Paul Fisher, PhD (Virginia Commonwealth University).
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Prostate Cancer Foundation Announces Nine Challenge Awards