Critical Path Institute, founded in 2005 in Tucson, Arizona, is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to bringing scientists from the FDA, industry, and academia together to improve the path for innovative new drugs, diagnostic tests and devices to reach patients in need.
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About Us
Creating an environment for innovation, collaboration, and positive change
C-Path is uniquely positioned to help shorten the critical path for developing new medical products. It is an independent non-profit institute, unaffiliated with any single entity or interest group, created in 2005 by the University of Arizona and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Its neutral status allows C-Path to serve as an effective and welcome facilitator among scientists from the government, academia and the private sectors.
C-Path has forged key partnerships, created collaborations and helped build new working relationships among federal regulators and the industry they regulate. Led by C-Path, scientists from academia, biotechnology companies, the government and pharmaceutical industry are working together to develop innovative new testing methods that enable life-saving drugs, devices and biological products to reach patients faster and with greater safety.
Based in Tucson, Arizona with offices in Phoenix, Rockville, Maryland, C-Path relies on three basic tenets in its approach to drug development: faster, safer and smarter. Our programs address scientific, safety and educational aspects of medical product development in support of the FDA's Critical Path Initiative. The overall goal of the Critical Path Initiative is to modernize the scientific process through which a potential human drug, biological product, or medical device is tested and developed. Our programs were developed with detailed input and participation from scientists from the FDA, industry and academia.
Our contributors include key organizations and individuals from the public and private sectors at the local, regional and national levels. Since 2005, over $20 million in grants and $10 million in contributions has been received to support C-Path's work. In order to serve as a neutral and trusted third party for collaborators, C-Path does not accept monies from organizations that develop products regulated by the FDA or that would create a real or perceived conflict of interest. C-Path manages industrial consortia of companies willing to share pre-competitive knowledge and work in support of projects that are identified as high priority by the FDA and are in the interest of public health.