Stand Up To Cancer announced a request for proposals under SU2C Catalyst, a program supporting clinical trials and translational research.
Funded in collaboration with Merck, the grants will support investigation of new uses of the company’s anti-PD-1 therapy, Keytruda (pembrolizumab), alone or in combination with other agents from Merck or other companies.
Proposals for the Merck project grants must be submitted to the American Association for Cancer Research, SU2C’s scientific partner, by July 20. The RFP and complete details are available at Proposal Central. AACR will administer the program.
Merck support for SU2C Catalyst is expected to enable as many as four projects with funding in the range of $1 million to $3 million each.
Keytruda is indicated in the U.S. for the treatment of patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma; and for non-small cell lung cancer tumors expressing PD-L1, with disease progression on or after platinum-containing chemotherapy.
The project must include pembrolizumab alone or in combination with other compounds, biologics, diagnostics, or devices intended as therapeutic interventions, and/or methods for biomarker identification for any cancer. The project is not limited to Merck products, however. If a product is proposed for use that is marketed or is under development by another company, SU2C plans to facilitate the necessary collaborative agreements.