CPRIT Is Funding the Development of Products That Fight Cancer

The Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas has provided more than $3.1 billion in funding toward the development of cancer-fighting therapeutics, devices, diagnostics, and tools since 2010. It's now issued a call for startups and early-stage companies to apply for product development research grants for the 2023 fiscal year.

Are you an innovator working on a novel way to fight cancer? If so, the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas would like a word.

CPRIT CEO Wayne Roberts

CPRIT—an investor in startups and early-stage companies—has unveiled four new requests for applications for product development research grants for the 2023 fiscal year.

“CPRIT’s mission is to invest in the research prowess of Texas institutions while expediting breakthroughs in cancer cures and prevention,” CEO Wayne Roberts said in a statement last May, when the organization announced a new batch of recruitment awards.

Open now to Texas-based companies and those willing to relocate to the Lone Star State, CPRIT says the grants will have a preliminary application review process for the award cycle. CPRIT will then select applicants for a full application, including a live presentation in from of an expert review panel.

Here are the new requests for applications (with descriptions provided by CPRIT):

Texas Therapeutics Company Product Development Research Award: Funding available that will support the ongoing research and development of innovative therapeutics with a significant impact on the treatment of cancer. The applicant is typically within one year from filing an investigational new drug/ investigational device exemption (IDE) or already in Phase I.
Texas Diagnostics and Devices Company Product Development Research Award: Funding available that will support the ongoing research and development of diagnostic tests and devices to treat, detect, diagnose, monitor, and assist in the treatment of cancer. The applicant should be working toward submitting an IDE, a 501(k), or premarketing approval and is typically within one year from filing an IDE or later stage work.
Texas New Technologies Company Product Development Research Award: Funding available that will support the ongoing research and development of new and emerging technologies for the detection, diagnosis, prognosis, monitoring, or treatment of cancer. CPRIT says it created this RFA to fund new and emerging technology projects that don’t easily fit the three other request for applications. Proposals may include, but are not limited to, bioinformatics, artificial intelligence, production of radionuclides or their precursors, manufacture of cell-based therapies, processes to improve the quality of the samples used for cancer research or clinical care, and biomanufacturing of therapeutics.
Seed Awards for Product Development Research (up to $3 million over three years): Funding available that will support company formation, as well as early research and development of novel oncology therapeutics, devices, treatment-oriented information technology products, diagnostics, or tools. CPRIT says the goal of this program is to help propel an “interesting technology” towards a commercially viable business opportunity.

CPRIT has awarded more than $3.1 billion in funding

Since its formation in 2010, the state agency says it has awarded more than $3.1 billion in funding toward the development of therapeutics, devices, diagnostics, and tools geared towards “the war on cancer.” Nearly 130 Texas-based academic institutions, companies, and nonprofits have landed funding through CPRIT, including North Texas-based OncoNano Medicine, Dialectic Therapeutics, UT Southwestern, and the UNT Health Science Center in Fort Worth.