Pfizer has launched a competitive, peer-reviewed grants program to support clinical research projects investigating Ibrance (palbociclib) in advanced breast cancer.

The multi-year program, which will award a total of up to $3 million in grants to investigators in the U.S., is an extension of Pfizer’s Advancing Science through Pfizer Investigator Research Exchange (ASPIRE) initiative. It is the first ASPIRE program to focus on breast cancer research.

Ibrance received accelerated approval by the FDA in February 2015 for use in combination with letrozole for the treatment of postmenopausal women with estrogen receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (ER+/HER2-) advanced breast cancer as initial endocrine-based therapy for their metastatic disease.

“We believe the ASPIRE Breast Cancer Research Awards will contribute important information to our body of knowledge about the role Ibrance plays in the treatment and clinical management of advanced breast cancer, and will complement the robust clinical development program we have ongoing,” said Dr. Julia Perkins Smith, senior medical director, U.S. breast cancer lead, Pfizer Oncology. “Through these awards, we also look forward to supporting the mission of the ASPIRE program to further academic research and nurture the career development of emerging investigators in a disease area of high unmet medical need.”

Grantees will be selected through a competitive application process overseen by an independent review panel of breast cancer experts.

The review panel encourages investigators (with a special interest for emerging researchers at assistant professor level or equivalent) to submit applications for innovative research in several areas. Highlights of the research of interest include:

• Improving the medical knowledge of palbociclib in the treatment of advanced breast cancer
• Optimizing clinical management during palbociclib treatment that addresses or improves patient compliance and convenience and/or patient reported outcomes.