# ARPA-H 1-CURE (One Comprehensive Universal Radiotherapy for Everyone)

Source: https://onco.cc/institutions/arpa-h-1-cure/  
OnCo record `arpa-h-1-cure` (Institution). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

A US government health research programme that aims to build one low-cost radiotherapy treatment able to work against cancer that has spread as well as cancer in one place, by combining very fast radiotherapy with materials placed in the tumour that rouse the immune system. It is at the stage of choosing who to fund.

## Summary

ARPA-H's programme page frames 1-CURE around the question of whether radiotherapy technology could enable one low-cost curative treatment effective for all cancers. It states that curative radiotherapy is feasible only for some localised tumours and is ineffective against metastatic disease, and that the programme will develop a single, rapid, low-cost and accessible approach for local, metastatic and radiotherapy-resistant cancers. Its two named components are multifunctional smart radiotherapy biomaterials, which enable image-guided targeting and sustained delivery of immune adjuvants, and an Abscopal Treatment Planning System that integrates those biomaterials with ultra-high dose rate (FLASH) radiotherapy to achieve abscopal responses, in which irradiating one tumour leads the immune system to attack others. The programme manager named on the page is Wilfred Ngwa. As read on 4 November 2026, ARPA-H was reviewing proposals and no longer accepting submissions, with awards to be announced after negotiation.

## Fields

- Kind: Institution
- Last checked: 2026-11-04
- Also known as: 1-CURE; 1-CURE program
- Tags: research-funding
- City: Washington, DC, US
- Type: government
- Website: https://arpa-h.gov/explore-funding/programs/1-cure

## Notes

- The programme's claims of what success would achieve (one treatment for all cancers, savings to the health system) are ARPA-H's aims, not results; no performer, award amount or start date was stated on the page and none is given.
- Wilfred Ngwa has no person record, so he is named but not linked.

## Sources

- ARPA-H: 1-CURE: https://arpa-h.gov/explore-funding/programs/1-cure

## Connected records

- technologies: [FLASH radiotherapy](https://onco.cc/technologies/flash-rt/)
- institutions: [Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health](https://onco.cc/institutions/arpa-h/)
- terms: [Radiotherapy](https://onco.cc/terms/radiotherapy/)
- bottlenecks: [Most of the world has almost no cancer care](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-global-access/), [Surgery and radiotherapy cure most, get least](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-surgery-radiation-innovation/)

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