Bayer Pharmaceuticals’ Medical Education department is committed to funding independent medical education initiatives that help to address important healthcare professional educational gaps and improve patient care.

General Information and Requirements

CGA Issue Date: May 6, 2024

CGA Due Date: May 6, 2024 – June 30, 2024

Initiation of Program Development: Q3 2024

Therapeutic Area:

• Current and future methods to detect molecular alterations
• Comparison of different molecular diagnostic approaches
• Education on biomarker driven testing strategies/appropriate testing modalities
• Role of NTRK gene fusion and impact of TRK-fusion testing in treatment algorithms
• Implication of TRK pathway aberrations in the pathogenesis of cancer
• Multi-disciplinary approach to precision medicine
• Understanding of efficacy and safety profiles of approved TRK inhibitors

Type of Initiative:

Online with enduring materials focusing on NGS testing modalities & impact on early diagnosis

Activity Format Examples:

Micro-learning Format: examples: Audio podcasts, Video tutorials, Presentations, Case-based studies, Infographics 

Primary Target Audience: VA Oncologists & VA Pathologists & NP

Geographic Scope: United States

Expected Monetary Range: Up to $100,000

How to Submit:

1. Review Bayer Pharmaceuticals Grant Guidelines:
   https://www.grants-contributions.bayer.com/home/medical-educational-grants
2. Review additional CGA requirements outlined within this document
3. Submit via Bayer Pharmaceuticals’ online request form:
   https://www.grants-contributions.bayer.com/home/medical-educational-grants
   NOTE: Please reference ‘VA CGA’ in the title.

Questions:

Questions may be submitted to medicaleducation@bayer.com (Please reference ‘VA CGA’)

Notification Process:

Upon Grant Review Committee evaluation and assessment, the requestor is notified of the decision via e-mail to the address entered on the Grant Request Form

Proposal Requirements

1. Formal letter of request, including:
   • Program title
   • Brief Program Outline/description
   • Program development start date
   • Target release date of program (if applicable)
   • Rationale and approach to program placement (if applicable)
   • Anticipated attendance and breakdown by specialty (if applicable)
   • Amount requested
   • CME credits offered
2. Needs Assessment
3. Learning Objectives and Educational Gaps: specific, measurable, performance based.
4. Target Audience and Audience Generation: describe the target audience(s) and provide a rationale for how and why this target audience is important to closing the identified healthcare gap. Additionally, describe methods of reaching the target audience(s) including description and rationale for recruitment strategies.
5. Educational Method and Design: considers appropriate target audience and learning preferences.
6. Venue (if applicable): describe target venue (i.e., distribution amongst academic institutions, large community hospitals and networks, restaurants, and others).
7. Meeting Placement Strategy and Institution Vetting Process (if applicable)
8. Delivery Format: describe rationale of delivery format
9. Potential Faculty
10. Faculty Recruitment and Training Strategy
11. Program Development Timeline
12. Program Agenda
13. Program Budget: detailed budget with rationale including breakdown of costs with clear calculations.
14. Educational Outcomes: provide a description of the approach to evaluate the reach and quality of program delivery (minimum outcomes: Moore’s levels 1-4).
15. Communication/Activity Update Plan (optional)
16. Completed, recent W-9 form

Compliance: grant application must be compliant with ACCME guidelines, free of commercial bias/influence, non-promotional, and fair balanced.

Terms and Conditions:

• This CGA does not commit Bayer Pharmaceuticals to award a grant or to pay any costs incurred in the preparation of this request.
• Bayer Pharmaceuticals reserves the right to accept or reject any or all applications received as a result of this request or to cancel in part or in its entirety this CGA at any time without prior notification or permission.
• The grant application must be submitted via Bayer Pharmaceuticals’ online request form https://www.grants-contributions.bayer.com/home/medical-educational-grants.
• All communications about the CGA must come exclusively to Bayer Pharmaceuticals Medical Education, medicaleducation@bayer.com.

References:

• Hong DS, Bauer TM, Lee JJ et al. Larotrectinib in adult patients with solid tumours: a multi-centre, open-label, phase I dose-escalation study. Ann Oncol. 2019 Feb 1;30(2):325-331. (link)
• Khotskaya YB, Holla VR, Farago AF, et al. Targeting TRK family protein in cancer. Pharmacol Ther 2017 (173), 58-66. (link)
• Drilon A, Laetsch TW, Kummar S et al. Efficacy of Larotrectinib in TRK Fusion-Positive Cancers in Adults and Children. N Engl J Med 2018; 378: 731-9. (link)
• Cocco, E et al. NTRK fusion-positive cancers and TRK inhibitor therapy. Nat Rev Clin Oncol. 2018 Dec;15(12):731-747. (link)
• Albert, CM et al. TRK Fusion Cancers in Children: A Clinical Review and Recommendations for Screening. J Clin Oncol. 2019 Feb 20;37(6):513-524. (link)
• Hyman, DM et al. Durability of response with larotrectinib in adult and paediatric patients with TRK fusion cancer. Annals of Oncology 30 (5), October 2019 (link)
• Kummar, S et al. Patient-reported outcomes from two global multicenter clinical trials of children and adults with tropomyosin receptor kinase (TRK) fusion cancers receiving larotrectinib. Journal of Clinical Oncology 37, 2019 (suppl; abstr 6602) (link)
• Cocco, E et al. Colorectal Carcinomas Containing Hypermethylated MLH1 Promoter and Wild-Type BRAF/KRAS Are Enriched for Targetable Kinase Fusions. Cancer Res. 2019 Mar 15;79(6):1047-1053. (link)
• Ricciuti, B et al. Antitumor activity of larotrectinib in tumors harboring NTRK gene fusions: a short review on the current evidence. Onco Targets Ther. 2019 Apr 30;12:3171-3179 (link)
• Solomon, JP et al. NTRK fusion detection across multiple assays and 33,997 cases: diagnostic implications and pitfalls. Mod Pathol. 2019 Aug 2. (Epub ahead of print) (link)
• Wong, D et al. Methods for Identifying Patients with Tropomyosin Receptor Kinase (TRK) Fusion Cancer. Pathol Oncol Res. 2019 Jun 29. (Epub ahead of print) (link)
• van Tilburg, CM et al. Larotrectinib efficacy and safety in pediatric TRK fusion cancer patients. Journal of Clinical Oncology 37, 2019 (suppl; abstr 10010) (link)
• Hong, D et al. Long-term efficacy and safety of larotrectinib in an integrated database of patients with TRK fusion cancer. ASCO 2021 presentation.
• Westphalen CB, Krebs MG, Le Tourneau C, Sokol ES, Maund SL, Wilson TR, Jin DX, Newberg JY, Fabrizio D, Veronese L, Thomas M, de Braud F. Author Correction: Genomic context of NTRK1/2/3 fusion-positive tumours from a large real-world population. NPJ Precis Oncol. 2021 Sep 17;5(1):86. doi: 10.1038/s41698-021-00222-y. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34535754/