ITDD faculty involved with NIPTE/NIH Therapeutics For Rare And Neglected Diseases (TRND) Program

In July 2012, the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Technology and Education (NIPTE) signed a contract with SAIC-Frederick, Inc. in support of the National Institutes of Health’s Therapeutics for Rare and Neglected Diseases (TRND).

TRND is a translational program housed in the NIH’s newly established National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences Division of Pre-Clinical Innovation. The program aims to speed the development of new drugs for rare and neglected diseases. TRND stimulates drug discovery and development research collaborations among NIH and academic scientists, nonprofit organizations, and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies working on rare and neglected illnesses.

TRND bridges the gap that often exists between a basic research discovery and the testing of new drugs in humans. To close the gap, TRND invests in optimization and preclinical testing of potential investigational new drugs for rare and neglected diseases, with the goal to generate sufficient quality data to support successful Investigational New Drug applications to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and first-in-human studies as necessary.

“We are honored to have been chosen as a part on this important program,” said Vadim Gurvich, co PI, NIPTE associate director, and research professor in the Institute for Therapeutics Discovery & Development. “Developing therapies for rare and neglected diseases is the area where the academic research can really make a difference.”

Other ITDD faculty involved in this grant include Gunda Georg and Michael Walters.