The Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center (DCCC) is a NCI designated comprehensive cancer which is focused on developing new therapeutics for the treatment of cancer. We are proposing a planning grant for an Academic Public Private Partnership program (AP4) Center to formalize these activities and to provide the critical infrastructure necessary for the success of these activities. The Duke AP4 Center will exploit the institutional strengths of the DCCC, including expertise in receptor biology, cellular signaling, radio-labeled antibodies, and cancer immunotherapy. These strengths are complemented by pre-clinical resources in target validation animal tumor models and imaging, and clinical strengths in neuro-oncology, breast and ovarian cancer, and bone marrow transplantation. We propose a one-year planning grant to optimize existing partnerships and explore new partnerships with academic, government, non-profit and commercial partners in a fully developed Duke AP4 Center. As an example of the proposed Duke AP4 Center's capabilities we will explore the development of complementary strategies in cancer immunotherapy for colon cancer. Three commercial potential partners will join Duke University investigators in the proposed Duke AP4 Center. We propose support for one year to develop plans for the Duke AP4 Center and submission of a formal application in 2004. Dr. Lyerly will first contact proposed and other potential partners in the pre-award period. We propose the following specific aims for the planning grant:
Aim I -To identify potential partners for the Duke AP4 Center;
Aim 2 -To plan and hold the first Partners meeting in Baltimore, MD July 16-17, 2004;
Aim 3 -To develop a strategic plan with the partners, and hold bi-weekly conference calls with partners from August 2004 to January 2005;
Aim 4 -To hold a second Partners meeting in Durham, NC in January 2005 to finalize planning for the Duke AP4 Center;
Aim 5 -To have weekly conference calls with partners committed to the Duke AP4 Center from January 2005 to May 2005;
Aim 6 -To write the Duke AP4 Center application for submission in mid-2005. The year of support provided by the planning grant will provide significant credibility for the DCCC to formally explore new partnerships with academic, government non-profit and commercial partners to develop a Duke AN Center focused on the institutional strengths, balanced with opportunities to develop new therapies directed toward orphan cancer.
