Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs Funding for FY2025

Members of Congress are frequently lobbied to add funding to annual defense appropriation legislation for certain medical research programs on a wide variety of diseases and topics. In addressing annual appropriations bills, Members frequently seek information on enacted levels for such funding under the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP).

CDMRP Administration and Funding

The CDMRP is a Department of Defense (DOD) program that receives congressional appropriations explicitly for biomedical research in specific, congressionally identified health matters. As such, it has not been part of the President's budget request for the DOD. The U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC), with oversight from the Defense Health Agency, administers the CDMRP and is responsible for awarding and managing competitive grants.

Congress usually inserts CDMRP funding as Undistributed Medical Research in the Defense Health Program's Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) account in the annual DOD appropriation. Congressional documents accompanying the annual defense appropriation act (i.e., conference reports or explanatory statements) typically identify the specific research areas for a given fiscal year.

Title IV, Section 1407(1), of the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025 (P.L. 119-4) inserted $650 million into the RDT&E account for CDMRP. This amount comprises 38% of the overall Defense Health Program's RDT&E appropriation, as reflected in Figure 1. Biomedical research conducted by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency or other military research agencies is not included in this account.

Figure 1. Total Defense Health Program (DHP) RDT&E Appropriation, FY2025

Source: Title IV, Section 1407(1), P.L. 119-4.

Table 1 lists the FY2025 CDMRP funding amounts for specific medical research areas. The table lists DOD-reported research topics eligible for CDMRP funding and DOD-reported allocations of specific dollar amounts to each topic. For FY2025, CRS has identified no accompanying explanatory statement or conference report to P.L. 119-4 providing explicit guidance on CDMRP research topics.

CDMRP Funding Requests

Members may request funding for medical research during the annual defense appropriations process. The appropriations committees typically send Members a memorandum with instructions for submitting requests. Both House and Senate committee reports may specify funding associated with certain research. An exchange of amendments between the houses (or a conference committee) typically resolves any differences between the committee reports.

The medical research programs funded under the CDMRP are not static. Funding may be provided for conditions not funded in previous years. For example, funding for tick-borne disease research was provided in FY2016-FY2020, but no associated funds were provided in FY2015.

Program Announcements and Awards

USAMRDC issues periodic program announcements to alert researchers of CDMRP grant opportunities. The program announcements include detailed descriptions of funding mechanisms, evaluation criteria, submission requirements, and deadlines. Program announcements are listed on the Grants.gov website, or the CDMRP website (https://cdmrp.health.mil). The CDMRP website also includes information on awarded grants and other resources such as related publications, brochures about individual research programs, and annual reports.

Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program

Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program (PRCRP) funding supports grants for medical research on various cancers and related treatments. For FY2025, Congress appropriated $130 million for the PRCRP, separate from other CDMRP funding for breast, melanoma, ovarian, prostate, and rare cancers.

Table 2 lists 22 cancers and treatments eligible for FY2025 PRCRP funding.

Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program

The program with the highest annual funding level under the CDMRP is generally the Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP). For FY2025, Congress appropriated $150 million for the PRMRP.

PRMRP funding supports grants for medical research on a number of conditions or treatment modalities that are of "clear scientific merit that lead to impactful advances in health care of Service Members, their Families and Veterans." Congress specifies an annual list of eligible conditions or treatments that typically includes a few changes from year to year as medical research priorities shift.

For example, research on burn pit exposure was eligible for funding in FY2017-FY2021, but was not eligible for funding in FY2016. Nevertheless, an investigator interested in burn pit exposure-related research could have submitted FY2016 grant applications for related eligible topics such as respiratory health, constrictive bronchiolitis, and pulmonary fibrosis.

Table 3 lists 56 conditions or treatments eligible for FY2025 PRMRP funding.

For more information on CDMRP, see

• CRS Report R46599, Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs: Background and Issues for Congress, by Bryce H. P. Mendez

• CRS Insight IN12547, Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs Funding for FY2025: Considerations for Congress, by Bryce H. P. Mendez