Our Impact on Drug Discovery and Development
Our research teams develop and apply cutting-edge approaches that speed therapeutic solutions for unmet health needs.
Moving More Treatments from the Lab to the Clinic
A researcher works in the lab at NCATS (Daniel Soñé Photography)
A new drug’s journey from the lab to the medicine cabinet can take up to 15 years. On the way, it passes through dozens of steps — and potential failure points. As a result, many never get approved for human use.
For more than 10 years, we’ve been making the drug discovery and development steps faster and more predictable. We built a pharmaceutical collection of nearly every drug approved for humans. We also built automated solutions to swiftly test drugs or combinations of them for new uses, including emerging infectious diseases. Through our partnerships with academia, industry and patient advocacy groups, we have enabled more than 45 promising new drugs to move into clinical trials.
Our newer drug discovery and development efforts focus on preparing for future pandemics and building a one-stop shop for finding, designing and testing new molecules with therapeutic potential.
Impact Stories
Drug Repurposing Reveals HIV Drug Shows Promise for Muscle Disorder
NCATS-supported researchers show that an existing antiviral drug used against HIV infection may prove helpful in treating a common inherited form of dystonia.
Tiny Antibodies May Provide New Tool to Fight COVID-19
An NIH-led team of scientists built a library of small antibodies and used it to find promising new therapeutic leads for halting viral activity.
Drug Discovery and Development Research Activities
We speed preclinical research on promising new medicines through a variety of research activities.
Assay Development and Screening Technology (ADST)
Our automation experts work closely with our lab scientists to support various research activities, including high-throughput screening, and assay development and optimization.
Matrix Combination Screening
Our experts use matrix combination screening technology to quickly identify promising drug combinations with the most potential to help patients.
Compound Management
Our compound management team uses sophisticated and automated techniques to supply chemicals for NCATS screening experiments to uncover new treatments for diseases.
Drug Discovery and Development Research News
Paving the Way for Ultrarare Bone Disease Treatment Trial
May 21, 2024 - NCATS News
- Our Impact on Drug Discovery and Development
- Therapeutics for Rare and Neglected Diseases (TRND)
Clinicians at the NIH Clinical Center will soon start testing an investigative drug for an ultrarare bone disease.
Read ArticlePaving the Way for Ultrarare Bone Disease Treatment Trial
May 21, 2024 - NCATS News
- Our Impact on Drug Discovery and Development
- Therapeutics for Rare and Neglected Diseases (TRND)
Clinicians at the NIH Clinical Center will soon start testing an investigative drug for an ultrarare bone disease.
Scientists Discover Potential Treatment Approaches for Polycystic Kidney Disease
April 4, 2024 - NCATS News
- Our Impact on Drug Discovery and Development
- Tissue Chip for Drug Screening
NCATS-supported researchers used gene editing and 3-D cell models to uncover new insights into the genetics of polycystic kidney disease.
NCATS Enables a Drug’s Path to FDA Approval for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
March 15, 2024 - NCATS News
- Our Impact on Drug Discovery and Development
- Our Impact on Rare Diseases
- Therapeutics for Rare and Neglected Diseases (TRND)
NCATS scientists conducted laboratory studies and provided guidance in the development of a drug for the rare muscle disease Duchenne muscular dystrophy.