Pancreatic Cancer Action Network

What Pancreatic Cancer Action Network does

Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1999 and headquartered in El Segundo, California, with a national volunteer affiliate network and an international affiliate office in Tokyo, Japan. The organization's stated mission is to improve outcomes for everyone impacted by pancreatic cancer by advancing scientific research, building community, sharing knowledge, and advocating for patients. PanCAN serves pancreatic cancer patients, caregivers, healthcare professionals, researchers, and donors, and all patient-facing services are provided free of charge.

PanCAN's core offerings fall into four pillars: (1) free patient services including one-to-one Case Management, the "Right Track" patient navigation framework, clinical trial matching, the Survivor & Caregiver Network, and bilingual educational materials; (2) precision medicine and research infrastructure including the Know Your Tumor® molecular profiling service, the Precision Promise℠ adaptive clinical trial platform, the SPARK Health Data Platform linking tumor profiles with clinical outcomes, and the Early Detection Initiative studying 8,800+ participants with new-onset diabetes; (3) a research grants program with approximately $17 million invested in KRAS research over 25 years and new Research Recovery Grants of up to $125,000 each launched in December 2025; and (4) policy advocacy and community fundraising via PurpleStride walks and the recently announced $250 million "All Together We Can" five-year campaign.

PanCAN's business model is donation-dependent — the organization receives no government support and is funded by contributions from individuals, corporations, and foundations, alongside cause-marketing sponsorships and employer matching gift programs. Go-to-market is community-led: the Patient Services helpline (877-272-6226), Pancan.org website, volunteer affiliate events, and HCP referral materials drive patient acquisition, while donor acquisition relies on direct mail, digital campaigns, PurpleStride events, and corporate partnerships. Strategic technology is delivered through SPARK (data) and AI partnerships with Aignostics (Atlas H&E-TME spatial profiling) and Valar Labs (ChemoPredict), positioning PanCAN's data asset as a substrate for third-party AI tools while retaining free academic access.

Name

Pancreatic Cancer Action Network

Legal name

Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, Inc.

Website

https://pancan.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1999

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 1999 that provides free patient services, precision medicine programs, research funding, and advocacy to pancreatic cancer patients, caregivers, and researchers in the United States and internationally.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Manhattan Beach

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Donor Contributions: PanCAN is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that receives no government support and relies entirely on donations from individuals, corporations, and foundations to fund its programs and mission.
2. Corporate Partnerships: Corporate partnerships including cause-related marketing, employer matching gift programs, and sponsorships of events like PurpleStride walks.
3. Campaign Fundraising: Major campaigns like the $250 million All Together We Can campaign, along with event-based fundraising through PurpleStride walks, endurance events, and DIY fundraisers.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

PanCAN is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that provides free, personalized patient services to pancreatic cancer patients and caregivers, including case management, clinical trial searches, precision medicine tumor profiling (Know Your Tumor), and survivor networking. The organization funds pancreatic cancer research through grants, operates the SPARK Health Data Platform for researchers, and runs clinical trial initiatives such as Precision Promise. Programs are funded entirely through individual, corporate, and foundation donations with no government support.

Product overview

Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) operates as a nonprofit patient services and research advocacy organization rather than a traditional software product company. The organization's core offerings include patient support services (Case Management, Right Track navigation, Survivor & Caregiver Network), precision medicine initiatives (Know Your Tumor® for tumor/germline testing, Precision PromiseSM clinical trials), research infrastructure (SPARK Health Data Platform, Research Grants, Early Detection Initiative), and educational resources. The $250 million All Together We Can campaign unifies these efforts toward the goal of making survival the expectation, not the exception. No single unified software platform connects these offerings; instead, they represent a comprehensive ecosystem of services, data platforms, and programs.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• PurpleStride: Walk to end pancreatic cancer - PanCAN's signature fundraising and awareness event
• Know Your Tumor
• Precision Promise
• SPARK
• Wage Hope
• Right Track

Products and services

• Know Your Tumor®

Quantifiable outcome

• Patients receiving matched therapies from Know Your Tumor live an average of one year longer than patients who don't receive matched therapy
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability5 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• AignosticscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 9 June 2026Partnership to apply Aignostics' Atlas H&E-TME AI application to PanCAN's SPARK data platform, generating spatial profiling results from pathological images. The collaboration will produce over 4,500 quantitative measurements per image and make results freely accessible to academic researchers via SPARK while licensing to life sciences companies for commercial use.
• OncoHelix Inc.coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 13 May 2026Partnership to launch My CANcer Code national pilot program providing free genomic testing to pancreatic cancer patients across Canada. The program aims to address gaps in comprehensive genomic profiling unavailable through public healthcare, helping clinicians identify molecular alterations and biomarkers to guide treatment selection and clinical trial eligibility.
• Valar LabscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 12 February 2026Valar Labs published a pivotal study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology validating their AI diagnostic test, Vitara Pancreas ChemoPredict, using data from PanCAN's Know Your Tumor initiative and the COMPASS clinical trial to demonstrate the AI's ability to predict chemotherapy response for pancreatic cancer patients.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Lustgarten Foundation: The largest US private funder of pancreatic cancer research. Highly comparable to PanCAN: disease-specific focus, research-funding mission, donor-funded model, and emphasis on early detection and precision medicine.
• Rolfe Pancreatic Cancer Foundation: Chicago-based pancreatic cancer foundation funding early-detection research and patient support. Directly comparable to PanCAN in disease-specific mission, research-funding model, and patient-services orientation.
• National Pancreas Foundation: Nonprofit focused on pancreas diseases including pancreatic cancer. Comparable in patient-education, support services, and advocacy mission, though broader in disease scope than PanCAN.
• Hirshberg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research: Long-standing pancreatic-cancer research foundation funding seed grants and translational science. Closely mirrors PanCAN's research-grant model and patient-education mission in the same single-disease niche.
• V Foundation for Cancer Research: Sports-funded cancer research foundation with a similarly research-grant-heavy operating model. Directly comparable as a disease-agnostic cancer research nonprofit that competes with PanCAN for major-donor philanthropy.
• Susan G. Komen: Disease-specific cancer nonprofit operating at national scale with research grants, patient services, and signature fundraising events. Highly comparable operating model to PanCAN, though for breast cancer.
• Prevent Cancer Foundation: Cancer research and early-detection foundation funding grants and education. Comparable to PanCAN in research-grant administration and early-detection emphasis, though broader across cancer types.

Broad incumbents

• American Cancer Society: Largest US cancer nonprofit with broad disease coverage. Comparable in research-funding and patient-services scale but operates across all cancer types; competes with PanCAN for general donor dollars.

Regional players

• Pancreatic Cancer UK: UK's leading pancreatic-cancer charity, funding research, advocacy, and patient support. Comparable mission and program structure to PanCAN but focused on the UK market; both are members of the World Pancreatic Cancer Coalition.

Others

• World Pancreatic Cancer Coalition: International coalition of pancreatic-cancer advocacy organizations of which PanCAN is a member. Indirect peer: an ecosystem body that convenes the pancreatic-cancer nonprofit community PanCAN operates within.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/PanCAN
• YouTubeyoutube.com/StopPancreaticCancer
• Facebookfacebook.com/pancan
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/pancreatic-cancer-action-network
• Instagraminstagram.com/pancan
• TikToktiktok.com/@pancan

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments2 records

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Frequently asked questions about Pancreatic Cancer Action Network