National Institutes of Health Director Francis S.
Collins, MD, PhD, recently presented plans for the
National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), NIH's
new agency launching October 1. The center, said Dr. Collins, will
lead a "translational science effort to try to come up with a way
to further facilitate the translational steps that result in
advances in diagnostics, prevention, and therapeutics."
Although the NIH is already doing translational
research--Dr. Collins cited research showing that 20% of drugs
approved from 1990 through 2007 originated at the NIH--new
discoveries of potential targets for rare and neglected diseases,
as well as for common diseases, prompted the development of NCATS
and its formation of partnerships with myriad entities, including
the FDA, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, academia, nonprofit
organizations, and patient advocacy groups. Dr. Collins stressed,
however, that the new center is not intended to be a drug
development company, but rather an opportunity to develop safe and
effective drugs and bring them to the clinic faster.
"The idea is to work with the institutes and centers at the NIH
to move projects just far enough along for them to be attractive
for commercial investment," Dr. Collins told reporters. He further
characterized the undertaking as an effort to "take what is just a
little too uncertain in terms of a possible drug development
program, get it to the point where it seems a worthy investment,
and then arrange for an appropriate handoff."
Funding and Logistics
Initial funding for the National Center for Advancing
Translational Sciences is $700 million, culled from research
projects already underway at various NIH institutes and centers,
and that would move under one roof to NCATS. Some programs slated
to become part of NCATS include the Clinical and Translational
Science Awards, a network of 55 research institutions located
throughout the country; the Molecular Libraries High-throughput
Screening Centers; Therapeutics for Rare and Neglected Diseases;
and the Rapid Access to Interventional Development program. Another
$100 million is projected to come from the Cures Acceleration
Network, NIH's new program under the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act signed into law by President Obama last March.
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