The Iowa Board of Regents approved the new Institute for CANcer Drug DIscovery and Development (CANDID) at the University of Iowa (UI) College of Pharmacy this week. The institute is a partnership between the college and the UI Health Care Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center. Cancer remains one of the leading causes of death in Iowa, and many patients still need treatments that do not yet exist.

“CANDID is about accelerating the development of new cancer treatments, and the goal is to take promising discoveries and move them more quickly from the laboratory into early clinical trials, and then patients themselves,” said UI Executive Vice President and Provost Kevin Kregel.

The institute will be located on the sixth floor of the UI College of Pharmacy building, providing much-needed laboratory space for cancer researchers.

“I am very happy to see this project move forward and grateful to everyone whose dedication, collaboration, and expertise have made it possible,” said cancer researcher Jill Kolesar, who is the dean, Jean M. Schmidt chair, and a professor at the UI College of Pharmacy. “I have spent much of my career in drug development and precision medicine. One thing I have learned is that progress depends on bringing people with diverse expertise together to solve a common problem. This expansion is about more than creating laboratory space. It is about creating conditions for scientists to work together to discover and develop new cancer therapies.”

The project is supported through the combined efforts of the College of Pharmacy, Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center, and donors who share a commitment to reducing the burden of cancer. The UI is investing $3 million in FY2027 toward the build out. July 2028 is the targeted completion date. 

“As cancer cases continue to rise in Iowa, we desperately need to discover and develop new drugs that can profoundly prolong and even save people’s lives,” said Mark Burkard, director of the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center. “This institute will empower us to make major strides in the war on cancer.”