National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences

History

NCATS was created on December 23, 2011 by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2012.

The center was created from a number of existing NIH programs:

• Clinical and Translational Science Award program
• Components of the Molecular Libraries Program
• Therapeutics for Rare and Neglected Diseases
• RAID renamed Bridging Interventional Development Gaps
• Office of Rare Diseases Research
• NIH–FDA Regulatory Science Initiative
• Cures Acceleration Network (CAN)

Directors

Past directors 2011 – present

Divisions

NCATS is organized into a number of divisions:

• Division of Clinical Innovation
• Division of Pre-Clinical Innovation
• Office of Administrative Management
• Office of Grants Management and Scientific Review
• Office of Rare Diseases Research: Oversees the Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network and Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center (GARD)
• Office of Strategic Alliances: Works with businesses in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry to speed the development of new drugs

Programs and initiatives

Overview

The stated goal of NCATS is to promote research in both existing and new areas of medicine and science, in order to promote public health and to overcome high failure rates in clinical trials. To accomplish this, NCATS supports 31 programs and initiatives that relate to translational research and improving the speed of therapeutic development. The 31 programs and initiatives involve a range of STEM-related fields including biology, biochemistry, chemistry, bioengineering, virology, genetics, and data science. Within the realm of translational science, issues that NCATS is particularly focused on addressing using its programs, initiatives, and partnerships include increasing the success and de-risking the costs associated with therapeutic development, incentivizing more collaborative work, and addressing data transparency issues.

COVID response

During the COVID-19 pandemic, NCATS launched an open data initiative to promote collaborative sharing of COVID-related drug data. An additional data sharing partnership with several other government institutes resulted in a study detailing the COVID-related risks for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

References

References

1. Wadman, Meredith. (12 January 2012). "US translational-science centre gets under way". Nature.
2. (12 March 2015). "Budget".
3. "Authorization".
4. Wadman, Meredith. (12 January 2012). "US translational-science centre gets under way". Nature.
5. (12 May 2010). "NIH's Cures Acceleration Network (CAN) – Rare Disease Legislative Advocates".
6. (13 March 2015). "Cures Acceleration Network (CAN) Review Board – National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences".
7. (10 July 2015). "NCATS Directors".
8. (December 23, 2011). "NIH establishes National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences". NIH.
9. (September 14, 2012). "Christopher P. Austin named National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences director". NIH.
10. (March 18, 2021). "NIH statement on the departure of Dr. Christopher Austin". NIH.
11. (November 8, 2022). "NIH names Dr. Joni L. Rutter director of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences". NIH.
12. (12 March 2015). "Divisions & Offices".
13. (2017-10-30). "About NCATS".
14. (2014-01-22). "Scientific and Regulatory Reasons for Delay and Denial of FDA Approval of Initial Applications for New Drugs, 2000–2012". JAMA.
15. (2015-03-16). "NCATS Programs & Initiatives".
16. (2015-03-16). "NCATS Programs & Initiatives".
17. (2015-03-12). "Issues in Translation".
18. (2020-06-08). "COVID-19 OpenData Portal".
19. (2021-09-23). "N3C Data Reveals COVID-19's Stark Mortality Risk in People with COPD".
20. (August 2021). "Mortality from COVID-19 in Patients with COPD: A US Study in the N3C Data Enclave". International Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.