BRAIN Act

Key Points

• The bill creates a Glioblastoma Therapeutics Network with $50 million per year from 2026 through 2030 to fund collaborative research that moves new treatments from the lab through early-phase clinical trials in humans. Glioblastoma has only a 6.9% five-year survival rate, making it one of the deadliest cancers.
• A separate $10 million per year program funds research into brain tumor cellular immunotherapy, including CAR-T therapy, for both adults and children. This uses a team science approach across multiple institutions to speed up development of these cutting-edge treatments.
• A national public awareness campaign will educate patients, caregivers, and doctors about cancer clinical trials and biomarker testing, with a focus on reaching rural communities and populations at higher risk of cancer. The campaign is funded at $10 million over fiscal years 2026 through 2030.
• NIH will create a searchable public website listing brain tumor biospecimen collections funded by NIH, so researchers can find and access tissue samples more easily. Entities holding these collections must report them within 180 days, and new collections must be reported within 60 days.
• Pilot programs funded at $5 million per year will develop and test models for caring for brain tumor survivors over their lifetimes, including mental health support, care coordination, and help transitioning from active treatment.
• The FDA must issue guidance within one year to help prevent brain tumor patients and patients with rare cancers from being unfairly excluded from clinical trials for other treatments that might also help them.