Rare Cancers Research Program (CDMRP)

Congress established the Rare Cancers Research Program in the FY20 Department of Defense appropriation with $7.5 million. After a stakeholders meeting on 17 April 2020 the CDMRP adopted the definition of a rare cancer as an incidence of six or fewer cases per 100,000 people per year. The page cites the American Cancer Society's estimate that about one in five US cancers is rare, and states that 67 per cent of the over 60 cancers that disproportionately affect people who have served in the military are rare.

The programme focuses on disease-defining biology; rare-tumour models that support clinical trial readiness; new therapeutic strategies including drug repurposing; artificial intelligence and machine learning for discovery and trial readiness; and platforms such as clinically annotated tissue repositories, central databanks, registries with a common data structure, omics databases and natural-history studies. The page lists $95 million in appropriations for FY20 to FY25 and $17.5 million for FY26, and 162 awards in FY21 to FY24.