Awards Will Fast Forward Scientific Discovery and Breakthroughs for Patients with Advanced Disease

SANTA MONICA, CA/August 4, 2011—The Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) today announced that it has funded 10 new Challenge Awards for accelerating scientific discovery and new treatments for prostate cancer patients. This latest round of funding represents a total $9.8 million investment over three years. PCF Challenge Awards are designed to support cross-disciplinary teams of prostate cancer investigators who are focused on highly-innovative research with potential near-term patient benefit. These awards are given to projects not yet funded by any government or foundation program.

PCF vetted the 10 2011 Challenge Awards from a field of 59 research proposals from highly-qualified research teams at prestigious cancer centers around the globe. Following an extensive peer review, consisting of an external advisory board, PCF selected the top research proposals for funding. These projects represent a range of focus and expertise and will address the most challenging problems in basic or translational research in prostate cancer.

“These newly-funded programs form an excellent, patient-centric PCF-funded research portfolio,” reports Howard Soule, PhD, executive vice president and chief science officer for PCF. “With reductions in federal funding for prostate cancer research, it’s imperative for PCF to seek the most promising research ideas and fund them with the goal of changing clinical practice and improving outcomes for patients with advanced prostate cancer. Moreover, these awards provide added horsepower to our ability to push scientific discovery.”

The 10 Challenge Awards include two Judge A. David Mazzone-PCF Challenge Awards announced earlier this week.

Learn more about PCF's 2011 Challenge Award Winners

About the Prostate Cancer Foundation

The Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) is the world’s leading philanthropic organization funding and accelerating research. Founded in 1993, PCF has raised more than $475 million and provided funding to over 1,600 research projects at nearly 200 institutions in 15 countries around the world. PCF advocates for greater awareness of prostate cancer and more efficient investment of governmental research funds supporting transformational cancer research. Our efforts have helped produce a 20-fold increase in government funding for prostate cancer. More information about PCF can be found at pcf.org.