The FY22 spending bill increases NCI’s budget by $159 million—but according to NCI officials, this boost isn’t sufficient to raise paylines for R01 grants for established and new investigators.
NCI Director Ned Sharpless has been incrementally increasing funding for research project grants (RPGs) over the past several years, with the goal of getting paylines to the 15th percentile by 2025 (The Cancer Letter, Sept. 6, 2019; Sept. 4, 2020). Sharpless aimed to reach the 12th percentile in FY22 (The Cancer Letter, Dec. 10, 2021).
Recalibrating for the FY22 spending bill, NCI has decided that paylines for established and new investigators will remain at the 11th percentile, said Douglas Lowy, principal deputy director of NCI.
“We expect that 52% of the increase in the FY22 appropriation will be invested in the RPG pool,” Lowy said to the Board of Scientific Advisors March 28. “Despite the RPG prioritization, NCI has decided the FY22 R01 payline for experienced investigators will remain the same as in FY21.”
