Dallas-based Susan G. Komen has announced sixty grants totaling more than $25.6 million in support of breast cancer research.

More than half the grants are focused on developing a better understanding of and treatments for metastatic breast cancer — an advanced form of the disease in which the cancer spreads outside the breast, often to the brain, bones, liver, and lungs. According to the organization, the metastatic form of the disease is responsible for nearly all of the forty-two thousand deaths in the United States related to breast cancer each year.

The grants include $15.6 million to develop new therapies for all stages of breast cancer, including the development of novel treatments for triple negative breast cancer, investigations of drug resistance and why certain drugs stop working in some patients, investigations of disparities in breast cancer outcomes, and efforts to apply data technology (including artificial intelligence and machine learning) to breast cancer research. The latest grants boost Komen's total support for breast cancer research to more than $1 billion since 1982, including $210 million focused on metastatic breast cancer.

"Breast cancer does not affect everyone equally," said Susan G. Komen CEO Paula Schneider. "And with the grants we're funding this year, we're moving closer to new therapies for aggressive forms of cancer, understanding why treatment doesn't work in some patients, and making sure everyone has access to the care they need."