Limited Competition: Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium (UM1 Clinical Trials Required) | RFA CA 19 059

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA CA 19 059

The grant opportunity titled "Limited Competition: Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium (UM1 Clinical Trials Required)" (Funding Opportunity Number RFA-CA-19-059) is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding announcement designed to continue federal support for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium (PBTC). It uses a cooperative agreement mechanism (UM1), which typically means NIH will have substantial involvement in the direction, oversight, and coordination of the funded activities, reflecting the complexity and high-stakes nature of running a multi-site clinical trials consortium. The activity area is health, and it falls under CFDA number 93.395.

This is a limited competition announcement, meaning it is not open to the broader research community. It explicitly solicits a single application from the current PBTC awardee, with an expectation of making only one award. Eligible applicants are listed as public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, consistent with the consortium-based infrastructure and academic medical center leadership usually needed to conduct pediatric oncology trials. The award ceiling is $3,300,000, indicating the maximum anticipated funding level for the award under this announcement.

Programmatically, the FOA exists to maintain and strengthen the PBTC as a dedicated early-phase clinical trials organization focused on pediatric primary brain tumors. The PBTCs central purpose is to move promising, innovative therapies from laboratory and preclinical development into early phase testing in children, where new treatments can be evaluated for safety, dosing, biological activity, and early signals of effectiveness. The rationale for sustaining this consortium is grounded in the ongoing clinical reality that several pediatric brain tumors still have high mortality rates, including diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas (DIPG), malignant supratentorial gliomas, and biologically high-risk forms of medulloblastoma and ependymoma. At the same time, for children who do survive with current standards of care, the announcement emphasizes that many experience significant long-term functional impairments, underscoring the need not only for better survival outcomes but also for treatments that reduce toxicity and preserve neurodevelopment and quality of life.

Within the NIHs pediatric brain tumor research portfolio, the PBTC is described as filling a distinct niche because of its ability to translate multiple innovative therapies into early clinical testing in a coordinated, efficient way. In practice, that niche typically involves the infrastructure and expertise needed for multi-institutional trial design and execution, centralized operations, consistent clinical and regulatory approaches, and the ability to rapidly open and conduct trials across participating sites. The "clinical trials required" designation signals that the funded work is expected to include clinical trials as a core deliverable rather than being limited to observational studies or preparatory research.

Key administrative details provided include a creation date of September 23, 2019, and an original closing date of November 13, 2019, indicating the historical posting and submission window for this specific continuation competition. Overall, the opportunity is best understood as a targeted continuation award meant to sustain a nationally significant pediatric neuro-oncology clinical trials consortium, with the explicit goal of accelerating early-phase testing of new therapies to improve outcomes and lessen long-term harm for children with primary brain tumors.

• The Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health in the education, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Limited Competition: Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium (UM1 Clinical Trials Required)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.395.
• This funding opportunity was created on Sep 23, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Nov 13, 2019. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $3,300,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education.

Apply for RFA CA 19 059

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