Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance

What Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance does

Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance is a non-profit research funding organization established in 2013 as a joint initiative of the Pershing Square Foundation and the Sohn Conference. The organization channels philanthropic capital to early-career scientists conducting innovative cancer research across immunotherapy, AI-driven protein design, RNA-targeting therapies, and novel cancer drug development. Its sole programmatic product is the Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Prize, an annual competitive award that distributes $750,000 grants to selected investigators without requiring equity, royalties, or intellectual property rights in return—a structural feature that differentiates it from venture-style or commercial funding vehicles.

In 2026 the Alliance executed a meaningful scale-up, transitioning from a regional New York-focused initiative to a national platform and doubling the number of awardees to 13 recipients, distributing $9 million in that single cycle. Over its 13-year history the Alliance has cumulatively awarded $58 million to 90 scientists across 24 research institutions, building a sustained pipeline of funded investigators. As a grant-making foundation rather than a commercial entity, the Alliance generates no product revenue; its operations are funded by contributions from the Pershing Square Foundation, the Sohn Conference, and affiliated donors. The organization does not disclose operating budgets, endowment balances, employee headcount, or its full board and management roster in the available source materials, and it has no identified parent company, private equity sponsor, or public listing.

Name

Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance

Legal name

Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance

Website

https://psscra.org

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance is a non-profit founded in 2013 that awards $750,000 Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Prizes annually to early-career cancer researchers across immunotherapy, AI-driven protein design, RNA-targeting therapies, and oncology drug development, having distributed $58 million to 90 scientists at 24 institutions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cancer Research Grants

NAICS

Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714), Grantmaking Foundations (813211)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Health & Medical Research Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Research & Science Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAI), Disease-Specific Research & Support (e.g., Cancer, Diabetes, ALS) (BPAGACAA)

Keywords

• Cancer research grants
• Nonprofit research funding
• Early-career scientist awards
• Biomedical research prizes
• Scientific grantmaking

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Core offering

Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance is a nonprofit grant-making foundation that funds early-career cancer researchers through its annual Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Prize. Each awardee receives a $750,000 unrestricted research grant, with no equity or IP rights claimed in return, supporting innovative projects in immunotherapy, AI-driven protein design, RNA-targeting therapies, and novel cancer drug development.

Product overview

The Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance operates as a grant-making and prize program, not a traditional product company. The core offering is the Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Prize, which provides substantial funding to early-career cancer researchers. In 2026, the Alliance expanded from a regional New York initiative to a national platform, awarding 13 innovators with $750,000 grants each for a total of $9 million in funding. Over its 13-year history, the Alliance has awarded $58 million to 90 scientists at 24 institutions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Prize: Annual prize awarded to early-career cancer researchers, with grants of $750,000 per awardee for cancer research projects.

Products and services

• Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Prize An annual research prize awarding $750,000 grants to early-career cancer researchers at academic and research institutions, supporting innovative projects in immunotherapy, AI-driven protein design, RNA-targeting therapies, and novel cancer drug development. Funds are unrestricted and carry no equity or IP obligations.

Quantifiable outcome

• 13 researchers awarded in 2026 (doubled from prior years)
• +2 more outcomes

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Lustgarten Foundation: Lustgarten is the largest private funder of pancreatic cancer research, supporting both basic science and clinical translation. It is a disease-specific grantmaking peer operating in the same funding-category space as the Alliance.
• Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation: Damon Runyon is a leading funder of early-career cancer researchers, with award programs (e.g., Damon Runyon Scholars) that directly parallel the Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Prize in targeting innovative, high-risk cancer research by young investigators.
• Stand Up To Cancer: Stand Up To Cancer funds collaborative, multi-institutional 'Dream Teams' focused on translational cancer research. It is a comparable grantmaking peer, though its typical project scale (multi-million, multi-PI) is larger than the Alliance's per-investigator grants.
• V Foundation for Cancer Research: Founded by Jim Valvano, the V Foundation is one of the most prominent cancer research grantmaking organizations in the U.S. It funds both early-career and established investigators across translational and clinical cancer research, making it the closest comparable to the Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance in mission and structure.
• Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy: Funded by Sean Parker, the Parker Institute supports large-scale translational immunotherapy research across a network of top institutions. It shares the Alliance's interest in immunotherapy and high-risk, high-reward research, though at a much larger funding scale.
• Cancer Research Institute: The Cancer Research Institute focuses specifically on cancer immunology and immunotherapy research funding. Its thematic overlap with the Alliance's immunotherapy funding makes it a strong specialty peer, particularly for shared applicant pools in immuno-oncology.
• Mark Foundation for Cancer Research: The Mark Foundation funds high-impact cancer research across academia and industry, with an emphasis on early-stage and translational science. It directly competes for donor attention and elite researcher applications with the Pershing Square Sohn Alliance.

Broad incumbents

• American Cancer Society: The American Cancer Society is the largest U.S. nonprofit funder of cancer research, supporting a broad portfolio of investigator-initiated grants. It is a broad incumbent in the same grantmaking category as the Alliance, with much larger total annual research expenditure.
• National Cancer Institute: The NCI is the principal federal agency for cancer research and training funding. While publicly funded rather than philanthropic, it is the dominant grantmaking entity that defines the funding landscape in which the Alliance operates and competes for talent.

Others

• Pershing Square Foundation: The Pershing Square Foundation is one of the two named backers of the Alliance and is itself a major philanthropic foundation. It is included as an ecosystem participant because it provides much of the funding base for the Alliance and represents a key stakeholder/funder relationship.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/psscra

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance