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FDA Grant Funds Georgetown University Regulatory Center [Updated]

Georgetown University (SergeMelki/Flickr)Update, 26 October 2011:  A similar center of excellence will be established at University of Maryland in College Park, also funded by a $1 million  FDA grant.

Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. will establish a Center of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation (CERSI), with initial funding from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The university says the $1 million FDA grant is potentially part of a three-year program for improving drug development and manufacturing.

CERSI is expected to focus on strengthening the science and training needed to modernize and improve the ways drugs and medical devices are reviewed and evaluated, a major concern at FDA in nearby Rockville, Maryland. CERSI researchers plan to help FDA in the fields of laboratory, population, behavioral, computational and manufacturing sciences, to help improve the quality of medical product development.

CERSI plans to draw on the university’s medical and law faculties for expertise. Principal investigators on the initiative are Kenneth Dretchen, professor of pharmacology and physiology, and Lawrence Gostin, a law professor specializing in global health law.

“The regulation of food and drugs is one of the most important functions of government,” says Gostin, “as the public comes to rely on the FDA to ensure the safety and quality of food, vaccines and medical products.” Gostin adds that providing for a safe food supply and effective drugs is becoming more challenging as the U.S. imports more of these products, and while FDA’s budget is increasingly strained.

CERSI expands on an earlier partnership between Georgetown and FDA announced in February to encourage research and education in the fields of regulation and public health.

Read more: Georgetown Univ., FDA to Partner on Regulatory Science

Photo: Serge Melki/Flickr

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