International Neonatal Consortium Launched

On May 19, 2015, the Critical Path Institute (C-Path), a non-profit organization, launched the International Neonatal Consortium (INC). INC will bring researchers, drug developers, regulators, and other stakeholders together to collaborate in developing treatments specifically for diseases that effect newborns. The consortium will concentrate on neonatal brain, lung, and gastrointestinal injuries; neonatal sepsis; retinopathy; and neonatal abstinence syndrome.

“Individual organizations simply do not have the data, resources, or expertise to address the many gaps in regulatory science that exist for the neonatal population,” explained C-Path president and CEO Dr. Martha Brumfield, in a press release. “By utilizing our consensus science model and working directly with regulators, we will forge a more efficient regulatory pathway for much-needed neonatal treatments.”

Dr. Alan Bedrick, Chief of Neonatology and Developmental Biology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine–Tucson, will serve as the executive director of the consortium. “The rapidly changing and unique physiology of neonates presents hurdles that often cause one-off approaches to falter,” said Bedrick in the press release. “Only by marshalling forces of the global neonatal community can we address the urgent needs for the care and treatment of neonates.”

Source: Critical Path Institute