The Scientific Management Review Board (SMRB) at the NIH has voted to proceed with the creation of a new Center to facilitate the movement of translational medicine programs into the marketplace. The new Center for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics (TMAT) is expected to begin operations October 1 2011, the start of the Federal 2012 Fiscal. The proposed TMAT will consolidate many of the clinical and translational programs currently housed under the National Center for Research Resources. Among other programs, TMAT will become the new home for the CTSA program along with two new programs outlined under the Health Care Reform Act: the $500M The CURES Acceleration Network, a competitive drug development program and Therapeutics for Rare and Neglected Diseases. Both these programs are awaiting approval in the FY11 federal budget. To read more about the proposed Center or to send comments log onto the SMRB web site at http://smrb.od.nih.gov/.
NatureNews has also posted an article about the transition at http://www.nature.com/news/2010/101208/full/news.2010.650.html .