City of Hope National Medical Center received $7.5 million in federal and private grants to study a rare blood cancer that affects the skin.

The National Cancer Institute awarded two grants valued at $6.3 million over five years to researchers Dr. Steven Rosen and Dr. Christiane Querfeld at the Duarte hospital to develop treatments for cutaneous T cell lymphoma (CTCL), an incurable cancer.

The Leukemia & Lymphona Society kicked in another $1.2 million to study a disfiguring disease that impacts 3,000 new patients a year.

The researchers will work in two laboratories to develop drugs that could treat a skin lymphoma that can result in large disfiguring plaques and tumors on the skin, or a red rash that can cover the entire body.

“The goal Dr. Rosen and I have in our respective labs is to develop life-changing treatments for people who have CTCL,” said Querfeld, in a statement.

Conventional treatments for CTCL only work for a few months, hospital officials say, with less than a third of patients who respond to treatment.

Health business reporter Dana Bartholomew can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @_DanaBart.