RTFCCR/LUNGevity Award for Overcoming Treatment Resistance

RTFCCR/LUNGevity Award for Overcoming Treatment Resistance

Provides four, clinical trial investigators addressing lung-cancer treatment resistance through the RTFCCR/LUNGevity Award for Overcoming Treatment Resistance.

⚠ This may reflect a past cycle — verify the current call on the funder's site.

The RTFCCR/LUNGevity Award for Overcoming Treatment Resistance is a joint grant program co-funded by the Rising Tide Foundation for Clinical Cancer Research (RTFCCR) and LUNGevity Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to improving outcomes for people living with lung cancer. The award targets a critical unmet need: the high rate at which lung cancer patients develop resistance to therapies or experience recurrence after initial response. Three research priority areas define the scope — developing treatments to prevent or overcome resistance to existing lung cancer therapies; creating lab-developed tests (LDTs) for real-time monitoring of treatment response or detection of emerging resistance; and advancing technologies for earlier detection of recurrence across any lung cancer stage or histology.

The 2026 cycle offered up to $1,000,000 per project over four years, with $500,000 contributed by each partner organization. The grant supports early-phase interventional clinical trial research, meaning applicants must hold an IRB-approved or IRB-ready clinical protocol at the time of application. Projects pursuing the LDT track additionally require biobank access. All applications must include a Patient Partner Involvement Plan. At least one award was anticipated for the 2026 cycle, with a deadline of March 1, 2026. Applications were submitted through the SmartSimple portal operated by RTFCCR — not the more familiar proposalCENTRAL system used by other LUNGevity programs. Eligible institutions include universities, nonprofit research organizations, and affiliated hospitals; for-profit entities are ineligible.

For investigators pursuing lung cancer clinical research, the RTFCCR/LUNGevity Award stands apart by its focus exclusively on treatment resistance and recurrence, and by requiring an active clinical protocol rather than preclinical work. The four-year duration and $1M budget allow teams to execute multi-phase early-phase trials with rigorous biomarker substudies. Winning applications will demonstrate a clear clinical rationale, a viable patient recruitment plan, and — for LDT projects — biospecimen access. The program recurs annually, making the 2027 cycle the next target for teams developing or refining an IRB submission.