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NCI Budget Fact Book

This report provides a summary of the distribution of the Fiscal Year 2022 budget among the various National Cancer Institute (NCI) research programs and funding mechanisms, funding policies influencing grant awards, and comparisons with prior year allocations. Additional information on the NCI budget is accessible from the NCI Home Page.

Fiscal Year 2022 Highlights

Funds available to the NCI totaled $6.72 billion, post inter-departmental and intra-NIH transfers, including $50 million for the Childhood Cancer Data Initiative and $28 million for Childhood Cancer Survivorship, Treatment, Access, and Research (STAR) Act. This reflects an increase of 5.5% and $370.9 million from the previous fiscal year.

Fiscal year highlights include:

  • The Childhood Cancer Data Initiative (CCDI) will facilitate a connected data infrastructure and integrate multiple data sources to make data work better for patients, clinicians, and researchers.
  • The Childhood Cancer Survivorship, Treatment, Access, and Research (STAR) Act, which was signed into law in June 2018, authorized funds for NCI to expand existing biorepositories for childhood cancer patients enrolled in NCI-sponsored clinical trials to collect and maintain relevant clinical, biological, and demographic information on children, adolescents, and young adults, and to continue to conduct and support pediatric cancer survivorship research.
  • The 21st Century Cures Act, which was signed into law in December 2016, authorized $1.8 billion to fund the Cancer Moonshot over a 7-year period. The Cancer Moonshot funding received during Fiscal Year 2022 totaled $194 million.
  • Of the total NCI budget obligated, 43.4% of the funds were allocated for Research Project Grants (RPGs).
  • The total number of RPGs funded was 5,497 (including grants funded through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) & Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs).
  • One-fourth of the RPGs awarded were new (“Type 1”) or competing renewal (“Type 2”) awards.
  • There was a total of 1,357 competing RPGs funded (excluding grants funded through SBIR & STTR).
  • One-third of the total NCI budget supported ongoing, non-competing (“Type 5”) RPGs.
  • The R01 grants were funded to the 11th percentile for Experienced and New Investigators and the Early Stage Investigators were funded to the 16th percentile. 
  • R01 Early Stage Investigators between the 1st and 11th percentiles were converted to R37 awards giving them the opportunity to extend their research an additional 2 years.
  • SBIR & STTR awards funded 207 grants totaling $151.4 million.
  • Intramural Research comprised 18% of the total NCI budget.

The dollar amounts displayed in the NCI Budget Fact Book represent direct appropriated funds only, unless otherwise denoted.

NCI Budget Summary Data

This section provides detailed data about funds available to NCI and information on how NCI obligated its funding.

Extramural Programs

NCI uses most of its budget to fund extramural grants and contracts. This section provides information about extramural funding by grant activity, institution, state, and country.

Historical Trends

This section contains information about the history of NCI appropriations and the Professional Judgment (Bypass) Budget, as well as data on funding trends and staffing levels.

Cancer Moonshot - Recent Fiscal Year Funding

This section contains information on the initial $195 million of Cancer Moonshot funding received during Fiscal Year 2021.

About NCI Budget Fact Book 

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) Office of Budget and Finance (OBF) conducts financial analyses and develops financial data and information related to the NCI budget. Created with this data, the NCI Budget Fact Book is an annual report that provides a range of information and data from the previous fiscal year, from NCI program structure to research project grant numbers to extramural programs and historical trends. 

Email OBF at nciobfInquiries@mail.nih.gov with any questions about the NCI Budget Fact Book.

Previous Fact Books

Archives of Fact Books back to 1971 are available.

Information provided in previous Fact Books can now be found online.

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