A five-year analysis of the New Investigator Award mechanism of the Department of Defense (DOD) Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) Prostate Cancer Research Program (PCRP)

4068 Background: Congress has appropriated $565 million (M) for the PCRP from fiscal year 1997 through 2004 (FY97-04). The PCRP has disbursed those funds via a two-step peer-reviewed process recommended by the Institute of Medicine using multiple funding award mechanisms. One of these mechanisms, the New Investigator Award (NIA), was designed to draw new researchers into the field of prostate cancer. The NIA funded independent investigators within 6 years of fellowship or postdoctoral positions at a level of $225,000/year over a performance period of up to 3 years. Preliminary data were not required for these proposals but there was an emphasis on innovative ideas and technology. Design: This assessment was conducted to analyze the effectiveness of the NIA mechanism at selecting and retaining talented young investigators for Prostate Cancer Research and in leveraging funds. For these awardees, publications and subsequent funding were used as a measure of success. A single year was selected and a detailed analysis was performed for all NIA awardees from FY99. Data were obtained from the CDMRP and publicly accessible (PubMed, National Institutes of Health [NIH] CRISP, etc.) databases. Results: In the 5-year period (FY99-FY03), 981 New Investigator Award applications were received, and 203 were funded for a 20.7% funding rate. Five-year follow-up of all New Investigator Award recipients from 1999 (n=45) revealed that 40 (89%) are still active in prostate cancer research based on current research grants and publications. Ninety-four new extramural grants from the DOD, NIH, American Cancer Society (ACS), Prostate Cancer Foundation (formerly CapCure), or other funding organizations have been received by 36 of the awardees with 45 of these specific to prostate cancer. The $14.3M invested by the DOD PCRP in this award mechanism in FY99 has resulted in $76.0M of additional funding from these other sources. Conclusions: The CDMRP PCRP is significantly contributing to attracting new investigators to the nation’s prostate cancer research effort. The original DOD investment in new investigators resulted in a 5.3-fold increase in subsequent research dollars. This is a strong mechanism for increasing the cadre of new research investigators, many of whom are working in the field of prostate cancer.