The Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network (BCAN) has announced a Translational Clinical Trial Award (TCTA) for supporting patient-focused research to transform bladder cancer care. 

To aid bladder cancer patients and families, this award will offer a maximum of $3m grant over a period of 36 months. 

It is intended to modify the standard of care in bladder cancer, reduce overtreatment and impact patient outcomes.

The BCAN grant will aid in enhancing outcomes for nearly 712,000 bladder cancer patients in the US.

BCAN board member Duncan Alexander is making generous funding for this award.

Through the $3m grant, the network plans to increase the urgency in the bladder cancer research process and back projects with new approaches that are not likely to receive funding from industry or other sponsors. 

This funding will support translational research and clinical trials and have a quick impact on bladder cancer therapies and medical care strategies, instead of backing basic research which offers general knowledge and understanding of an ailment.

Furthermore, this kind of award is meant to assist initiatives that are realistic and that have increased chances of meeting specified objectives. 

The network plans to announce the recipients of the grant in February next year.

BCAN CEO Andrea Maddox-Smith said: “This award will propel new thinking and approaches to how bladder cancer is diagnosed and treated. 

“Duncan’s abundant generosity aims to ease the burden of thousands of the more than 712,000 people impacted by bladder cancer in the US.”