FDA Collaborations With NCI and NIST on Nanotechnology

Recognizing that extensive cross-sector and multi-disciplinary efforts are needed to understand and develop nanotechnology-based platforms and tools for cancer research as well as diagnostic and therapeutic applications,  FDA, the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST), embarked upon a partnership that leverages each party’s core expertise and resources to facilitate nanotechnology.

This effort was an expansion of an already robust collaboration between FDA and NCI under the auspices of the Interagency Oncology Task Force (IOTF), started in 2003. The nanotechnology subcommittee under the IOTF, with a mission to foster greater understanding of the biomedical applications of nanotechnology maintains this collaboration in nanotechnology. These joint activities include active participation with the staff at the Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory (NCL) of the NCI. Other activities include:

• Co-development of characterization assay cascades associated with NCI’s Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory
• FDA staff on the  standardization of approaches for evaluating nanoscale particles submitted to the NCL
• FDA providing scientific and regulatory input and guidance to the investigators and partners within the NCI’s Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer

For more information about the FDA/NCI/NIST collaboration in nanotechnology, visit: MOU 225-07-8006