NCATS

What NCATS does

NCATS (National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences) is a federal research center established in 2012 within the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) under the Department of Health and Human Services, headquartered at 9609 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, Maryland. Its mission is to address long-standing bottlenecks in the translational pipeline so that new treatments and health solutions reach patients faster. NCATS operates an integrated translational science platform that spans the drug development lifecycle: high-throughput robotic screening against a repository of nearly one million compounds and the NCATS National Pharmaceutical Collection of nearly 3,000 approved drugs; 3-D tissue bioprinting for organoid models; bioengineered tissue chips (organs-on-chips) for brain, lung, heart, liver, kidney, GI, muscle, skin, and joint systems; the Biomedical Data Translator for cross-dataset knowledge integration; and the National Clinical Cohort Collaborative (N3C) housing one of the largest deidentified U.S. clinical datasets. Supporting programs include TRND for rare and neglected disease therapeutics, Platform Vector Gene Therapy (PaVe-GT), the Bespoke Gene Therapy Consortium (BGTC), RARe-SOURCE for rare disease bioinformatics, the Assay Guidance Manual, and Toxicology in the 21st Century (Tox21).

NCATS is funded entirely through Congressional appropriations to NIH and does not generate commercial revenue; all programs, resources, and collaborative services are provided free of charge. Customer segments include academic researchers and 60+ CTSA-funded medical institutions (primary), rare disease patients and advocates, clinical research institutions running trials under NCATS-supported frameworks, and pharmaceutical/biotechnology collaborators. Distribution occurs through open-access web resources, extramural grants (CTSA, SBIR/STTR, RDCRN), intramural collaborative research services, and technology transfer via licensing. Strategic alliances include FDA (TraCe MPS tissue chip qualification), NASA and the ISS National Lab (Tissue Chips in Space), DARPA and NIBIB (tissue chip co-development), NHGRI (MMA-101 gene therapy), and the Translation Together consortium. The center is led by Director Joni L. Rutter, Ph.D.

Name

NCATS

Legal name

National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences

Website

https://ncats.nih.gov

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

NCATS is a federal translational science center within NIH that develops and provides free open-access platforms - including tissue chips, high-throughput screening, compound libraries, and clinical data systems - to academic researchers, clinicians, and rare disease patients, accelerating biomedical discovery into treatments.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Translational Science Research

NAICS

Scientific Research and Development Services (5417), Medical Laboratories (621511), Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (541690)

SIC

Services-Medical Laboratories (8071), Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Central Laboratory Services (Core Lab Operations) (HLAGAEAA)

Keywords

• Translational science research
• Drug discovery platforms
• Rare disease therapeutics
• Clinical research networks
• Biomedical data integration

Headquarters

HQ city

Bethesda

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Others

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

NCATS is a federally funded research center within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that conducts and supports translational science to accelerate the development of treatments and other health solutions. It provides open-access research platforms, data resources, compound libraries, tissue-chip technologies, high-throughput screening services, clinical trial infrastructure, and grant funding to academic researchers, clinical institutions, and industry collaborators. All resources and services are provided at no cost to qualified researchers.

Product overview

NCATS (National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences) is a federal research institution within NIH that operates as a research platform and resource hub rather than a commercial product company. The center provides an integrated portfolio of research programs, data platforms, and scientific resources designed to accelerate the translation of biomedical discoveries into health solutions. Key offerings include the CTSA Program (a network of 60+ medical institutions), the National Clinical Cohort Collaborative (N3C) for clinical data, the Biomedical Data Translator for knowledge integration, the Tissue Chip for Drug Screening program for organ-on-chip technology, the NCATS National Pharmaceutical Collection (compound library of ~3,000 drugs), the OpenData Portal for COVID-19 therapeutics data, RARe-SOURCE for rare disease bioinformatics, and the Assay Guidance Manual for drug discovery best practices. Additional programs include TRND for rare disease drug development, Tox21 for toxicity screening, IDG for understudied proteins, and 3-D tissue bioprinting. These platforms are provided as open-access research resources rather than commercial products, serving researchers, clinicians, patient advocates, and the public.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program: A network of more than 60 leading medical institutions to improve the efficiency, quality and impact of translational research for improving human health.
• Tissue Chip for Drug Screening
• National Clinical Cohort Collaborative (N3C)
• NIH HEAL Initiative
• Therapeutics for Rare and Neglected Diseases (TRND)
• Biomedical Data Translator
• Genetic and Rare Diseases (GARD) Information Center
• RARe-SOURCE
• Toxicology in the 21st Century (Tox21)
• Platform Vector Gene Therapy (PaVe-GT)
• Bespoke Gene Therapy Consortium (BGTC)

Products and services

• Tissue Chip for Drug Screening Program Develops bioengineered devices (tissue chips/organs-on-chips) that mimic functions of human organs to improve drug safety and toxicity prediction before clinical testing in humans.
• Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program Funds a network of more than 60 leading medical institutions to improve the efficiency, quality and impact of translational research for improving human health.
• National Clinical Cohort Collaborative (N3C) Maintains one of the largest collections of secure and deidentified clinical data in the United States for COVID-19 research and translates health data into health solutions.
• Biomedical Data Translator Brings together teams of experts from leading universities and research institutions to combine vast amounts of current medical research data and speed the development of new treatments through integrated knowledge bases and autonomous relay agents.
• NCATS National Pharmaceutical Collection (NPC) A complete, publicly available collection of nearly 3,000 approved small molecule drugs for high-throughput screening to identify potential drug repurposing opportunities.
• OpenData Portal An open and accessible platform offering real-time information about how individual SARS-CoV-2 variants may respond to known therapeutics, focusing on drug repurposing findings and pandemic threats.
• Therapeutics for Rare and Neglected Diseases (TRND) Expert program helping move new treatments for rare and neglected diseases through later stages of drug development by collaborating with external scientists and companies.
• RARe-SOURCE A searchable website that offers harmonized and combined rare disease data and tools to help researchers study genetic information, genetic variants, and disease connections.
• Assay Guidance Manual (AGM) A free, comprehensive online resource providing guidance and best practices for the development and optimization of high-quality assays for drug discovery and development.
• 3-D Tissue Bioprinting Uses specialized 3-D printing techniques to create tissue models that closely resemble the complex structure and organization of cells for drug discovery and disease modeling.
• Toxicology in the 21st Century (Tox21) Federal collaboration that aims to rapidly test whether chemical substances are harmful to people using high-throughput screening methods.
• Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network (RDCRN) NIH-wide grant program supporting medical research on over 200 rare diseases through clinical studies, collaborations, study enrollment and data sharing.
• Genetic and Rare Diseases (GARD) Information Center Provides comprehensive information about rare and genetic diseases to patients, families, health care providers, researchers and the public.
• Illuminating the Druggable Genome (IDG) A decade-long program investigating understudied proteins to build a foundation for understanding and targeting previously inaccessible disease mechanisms.

Quantifiable outcome

• 12 rare disease treatments moved to clinic through RDCRN
• +2 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature10 records

Partnerships

15 partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and supporting.

• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2017NIH-NASA collaboration to explore how space and Earth-based biomedical research can benefit human health. NCATS Director serves as HHS liaison to NASA. MOU enables NIH grantees to access ISS and NASA facilities for research projects. Over 20 of 27 NIH institutes participate in NIH-NASA SPACE group.
• International Space Station U.S. National Lab (ISS National Lab)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 October 2016Partnership to refine tissue- and organ-on-chip platforms for biomedical research on the space station. CASIS (now ISS National Lab) provided approximately $8 million in in-kind support. Collaboration has resulted in multiple launches and experiments studying microgravity effects on tissue chips.
• U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFDA collaboration on tissue chip qualification as drug development tools through the Translational Centers for Microphysiological Systems (TraCe MPS) program, with goal of establishing regulatory-grade validation pathways for tissue chip technology.
• National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-funding of tissue chip programs including Tissue Chips in Space initiative and tissue chip development for modeling the immune system. Combined expertise in bioengineering and biomedical imaging with translational science capabilities.
• Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration in early development of tissue chip technology for drug screening, bringing government defense research expertise to bear on biomedical challenges.
• Texas A&M University and University of Texas Medical BranchmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerTraCe MPS award for development of women's health microphysiological systems as drug discovery tools. Grant Number: 1U2CTR004868-01. Focus on pregnancy-related applications.
• University of PittsburghmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerTraCe MPS award for qualification of patient-derived biomimetic liver MPS as drug discovery tools for drug metabolism, toxicity, efficacy testing and clinical trial cohort selection. Grant Number: 1U2CTR004863-01.
• University of RochestermajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerTraCe MPS award for Barrier MPS development. Grant Number: 1U2CAG088071-01. Focus on tissue chip models of barrier tissues for drug testing.
• University of Washington and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount SinaimajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerTraCe MPS award for kidney microphysiological systems to improve drug safety and efficacy. Grant Number: 1U2CTR004867-01. Multi-institutional collaboration for kidney tissue chip development.
• Translation TogethersupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on core competencies for translational science, contributing to the Characteristics of a Translational Scientist publication and shared educational resources.
• Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) InstitutionscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNetwork of more than 60 leading medical institutions funded through CTSA Program to improve health through research, resources, and training in translational science.
• Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network (RDCRN)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNIH-wide grant program supporting medical research on over 200 rare diseases through clinical studies, collaborations, study enrollment and data sharing across multiple consortia.
• NIH HEAL Initiative PartnerscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration within NIH Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) Initiative to develop new treatments for opioid misuse, addiction and pain through translational science approaches, including tissue chips for pain research.
• National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on MMA-101 gene therapy trial for methylmalonic acidemia, combining NCATS translational expertise with NHGRI genomic research capabilities at NIH Clinical Center.
• Bespoke Gene Therapy Consortium (BGTC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPublic-private partnership focused on developing platforms and standards to speed the development and delivery of gene therapies for rare diseases, co-led by NCATS.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• National Cancer Institute (NCI): Peer NIH institute conducting intramural research, clinical trial networks, and translational programs; shares NCATS' translational science mission but is scoped to oncology rather than cross-disease.
• Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA): HHS agency supporting advanced development of medical countermeasures; comparable translational scope with later-stage development focus and similar public-private partnership models.
• Charles River Laboratories: Large contract research organization providing laboratory services supporting drug discovery and preclinical development; comparable capabilities to NCATS in high-throughput screening, safety assessment, and translational services, but operating commercially.
• Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI): Large non-profit biomedical research organization supporting investigator-driven translational research; comparable in scale, scientific mission, and emphasis on enabling research infrastructure for a scientific workforce.

Emerging players

• Wellcome Leap: Non-profit foundation-funded program executing large-scale, time-bound translational research challenges using funding mechanisms and platform approaches comparable to NCATS' programs.
• Chan Zuckerberg Biohub: Non-profit biomedical research organization that funds and conducts collaborative translational research across partner universities; overlaps with NCATS on platform technologies and translational science workforce development.
• Allen Institute: Non-profit research organization executing large-scale, atlas-style science programs and translational pipelines with sustained philanthropic funding, comparable in scale and model to NCATS.

Direct peers

• Scripps Research: Independent non-profit biomedical research institute conducting translational science with platform technology development, high-throughput screening infrastructure, and disease-focused programs.
• Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard: Non-profit translational biomedical research organization combining genomics, chemical biology, and disease modeling; comparable scale and mission to advance biomedical discovery into clinical application.
• ARPA-H (Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health): New HHS agency chartered to accelerate high-risk, high-reward health research breakthroughs; operates a translational research funding model very similar to NCATS, with overlapping focus on platform technologies and translational pipelines.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@NCATSMedia

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments25 records

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Frequently asked questions about NCATS