Funding Opportunity Number: RFA-CA-27-005
Issuing agency: National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute (NCI).
Application deadline: October 1, 2026 at 5:00 PM local time of the applicant organization. No late applications will be accepted.
Funding: NCI intends to commit approximately $4.4 million in total costs in FY2027 for 3 to 4 awards. Application budgets are limited to $700,000 in direct costs per year, for a maximum project period of five years. Cost sharing is not required.
Purpose: The Glioblastoma Therapeutics Network will establish highly collaborative, multi-institutional U19 teams capable of advancing novel or repurposed therapeutic agents for adult glioblastoma from late preclinical development through IND-enabling work and into pilot or early-phase clinical studies. Clinical trials are required.
Required structure: Each U19 team must be multi-institutional, include investigators from at least two institutions, and include two institutions capable of accruing patients to GTN clinical trials from non-overlapping catchment areas. Each application must include an Administrative Core with network-coordinating functions, two Research Projects, and at least one Shared Resources Core. Teams must have the expertise and infrastructure to advance candidate agents across medicinal chemistry or biologics development, preclinical models, formulation and scale-up, ADME/toxicology, PK/PD, imaging, IND preparation, and early-phase clinical trial execution.
Eligibility: Eligible domestic applicants include institutions of higher education, nonprofits, small businesses and other for-profit organizations, state and local governments, Tribal governments and organizations, eligible federal agencies, independent school districts, public and Indian housing authorities, faith-based and community-based organizations, and regional organizations. Foreign organizations, foreign components, and foreign subawards are not eligible. Only one application per institution is allowed.
Submission: This is a multi-project NIH application submitted through ASSIST or an institutional system-to-system solution and tracked through Grants.gov/eRA Commons. Active SAM/UEI, Grants.gov, eRA Commons, and required PD/PI registrations must be in place. A Data Management and Sharing Plan is required when applicable and must be provided in the Overall component.
Atlas assessment: Very strong oncology and translational-medicine relevance, but this is an advanced, multi-institutional drug-development and clinical-trial network mechanism. Structural for-profit eligibility does not establish direct-prime readiness. Recommended posture: Partner-Led / Multi-Institutional Glioblastoma Therapeutics Center. A credible applicant must already possess the required GBM therapeutic-development pipeline, preclinical and IND capabilities, qualified investigators, patient-accrual sites, clinical-trial infrastructure, and institutional commitments.
Atlas score: 96/100.