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An NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences: is a focus on drug discovery the best option?

Nature Reviews Drug Discovery volume 10, page 471 (2011)Cite this article

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In a recent interview Francis Collins, the Director of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), described why translational medicine was one of his top priorities (An audience with... Francis Collins. Nature Rev. Drug Discov. 10, 14 (2011))1. He noted that one potential solution to the current productivity problems in drug research and development (R&D) and the recent cutbacks in R&D by pharmaceutical companies would be for the NIH to become more engaged in drug discovery. Shortly after, he proposed the formation of a 'National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences' (NCATS)2. This centre would be assembled primarily from existing programmes focused on clinical research and drug discovery within the NIH, with the goal of conducting translational research that is needed to bring new ideas and materials to the attention of industry by demonstrating their value.

However, some critics of Collins' proposal fail to see why such a centre should be more successful at early-stage drug R&D than the pharmaceutical industry. In addition, low productivity has forced the industry to rethink the model of a research-based pharmaceutical company, in which most of its products come from in-house pipelines, and it has already started to invest heavily in academic collaborations with the same goals that have been proposed for the NCATS. For example, in November 2010, Pfizer announced the creation of its 'Centers for Therapeutic Innovation', a network of partnerships that also aims to accelerate the translation of biomedical research into medicines. It committed up to US$85 million over 5 years to its first centre at the University of California, San Francisco, USA, for the development of new biologic-based medications3. Other recent academic research collaborations have also been announced by Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, Roche and AstraZeneca4.

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  1. Bruce H. Littman M.D. is President of Translational Medicine Associates, LLC, 28 Prentice Williams Road, Stonington, Connecticut 06378, USA.,

    Bruce H. Littman

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Littman, B. An NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences: is a focus on drug discovery the best option?. Nat Rev Drug Discov 10, 471 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrd3357-c1

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