Cancer Prevention Agent Development Program 2012-2017

The National Institutes of Health awarded a Master IDIQ for the Cancer Prevention Agent Development Program on September 24, 2012, with a shared ceiling of $85 million and a final ordering date of September 23, 2019 — this vehicle is now closed to new orders and has been inactive for nearly seven years.

The program funded early-phase clinical trials of cancer preventive agents across multiple disease sites, including Phase I and Phase II trials of novel drugs, vaccines, and biologics targeting breast cancer, cervical dysplasia, prostate cancer, colorectal cancer, and other malignancies. Task orders also funded core infrastructure support at participating research institutions. All 58 task orders were awarded unrestricted (non-set-aside); the vehicle generated no preferred small-business activity.

The National Cancer Institute placed 57 of 58 orders totaling $63.3 million in combined potential value; a single supplemental order went to the NIH Office of Logistics and Acquisition Operations. Four academic medical centers and research universities dominated the awardee base: University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (14 orders, $18.8 million potential value), University of Arizona (13 orders, $16.3 million), Northwestern University (15 orders, $15.9 million), and University of Wisconsin System (14 orders, $12.7 million). Mayo Clinic received 2 orders with no financial obligation recorded. These five institutions collectively account for all 58 task orders issued under the vehicle. Activity peaked in 2014 and 2015, with 11 and 12 orders respectively; ordering declined to 4 orders in 2019 as the vehicle wound down. Of the $63.8 million combined task-order potential value, $59.2 million (93 percent) has been obligated. Task orders were structured as cost-no-fee arrangements with typical values ranging from $151 thousand to $3.5 million per order. The most recent orders, issued in September 2019 at vehicle close-out, covered clinical research and core infrastructure support with individual ceilings between $1.5 million and $2.1 million.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Cancer Institute (NCI), Division of Cancer Prevention (DCP), Phase I/II Cancer Prevention Clinical Trials Program will provide essential clinical trials infrastructure and laboratory support: (1) To efficiently design and conduct early phase clinical trials of cancer preventive agents of various classes; (2) To characterize the biological effects of new cancer preventive agents on their defined molecular targets as well as on multiple endpoints associated with carcinogenesis and correlate these effects with clinically relevant endpoints; and (3) To develop scientific insights into the mechanisms of cancer prevention by the agents examined and to continue to develop novel potential markers as determinants of response.