In the clinical stage of the translational process, medications, devices, diagnostic products and other treatment regimens developed in the preclinical stage are tested for safety and effectiveness in humans, disseminated to broader patient populations, and studied for their capacity to improve public health. Like those before it, this stage is fraught with scientific uncertainties and operational inefficiencies that limit our ability to test new treatments in humans and deliver interventions to patients more quickly.
NCATS is directly addressing clinical translation problems in a system-wide manner by developing, demonstrating and disseminating more efficient collaborative approaches to the clinical enterprise. The aim is to improve procedures in areas such as clinical training, institutional review board operations and patient recruitment methods for multisite studies, and evaluation and accountability of investigators. Streamlining these processes can accelerate the transformation of laboratory discoveries into new treatments for patients.
NCATS’ Clinical and Translational Science Awards Program and Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network aim to improve clinical research efficiency.
Learn more about other translational issues NCATS aims to address: