One year after councilors made the proposal and after months of controversy, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) obtained a new translational research center. The final step came just before Christmas, when President Barack Obama signed a bill $ 1000000000000 2012 expenses Dec. 23 that includes the NIH funding. The bill also introduces the National Center for the Advancement of Translational Sciences (NCATS) -backed by the NIH Director Francis Collins, who will aim to push the basic discoveries more quickly to the clinic "reengineering" the process drug development.
The creation of NCATS disturbed the biomedical research community in part because the reorganization dismantled the National Center for Research Resources, that had many devoted followers. Some industry leaders also feared that the NIH funding would tilt away from basic science to drug development, which they say academic scientists are not suited to do. Many scientific leaders in the industry still feel that way, said Roy Vagelos, former CEO of Merck. "The generation of new knowledge is crucial" for drug discovery, Vagelos said. "If academia continues to do so, nobody will."
NIH press release acknowledges this concern, promising that the basic research report and applied to the NIH "will not be disturbed" by the creation of NCATS.
NCATS supporters, meanwhile, are delighted that NCATS is finally real. Amy Comstock Rick, CEO of Action Network Parkinson's disease, said his group is not too concerned about the language in the bill on spending indicating that NCATS can not fund clinical trials that go beyond a certain stage. "I am quite sure they can work inside "she said.
The $ 575 million NCATS will start as a collection of existing programs transferred from NCRR and other institutes. The only new program-the $ NCATS Cures Network received only 10 million Bill on spending, far less than lawyers as Rick had hoped for acceleration. But that should be enough to start, Rick said. She is also excited by the plans for the NCAT Advisory Board that will include industry groups and representatives of patients. "It's a new kind of advice," she said.
A note to Collins to staff announcing the creation of NCATS accidentally went six days earlier. This note also announced temporary leaders NCAT: the acting director will be Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health; the Acting Deputy Director Kathy Hudson will, NIH deputy director for science, education and politics. NIH began searching the first director of NCATS this fall.
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