TOBACCO CENTERS OF REGULATORY SCIENCE (TCORS):
AN OVERVIEW

The FDA and NIH, as part of an on-going interagency partnership, awarded 9 Tobacco Centers of Regulatory Science (TCORS) grants in September 2018 to support research to inform the regulation of tobacco products. In this second round of funding, the TCORS 2.0 research centers will receive, in total, more than $151 million in grants for funding years 2018-2022. What scientists learn about tobacco through the TCORS program helps inform and assess FDA’s prior, ongoing, and potential regulatory activities. TCORS investigators also have the flexibility and capacity to respond to FDA’s research needs as issues are raised in today’s rapidly evolving tobacco marketplace.

What is Tobacco Regulatory Science?

Regulatory Science is the science of developing new tools, standards and approaches to assess the safety, efficacy, quality and performance of (mainly) FDA-regulated products. Similarly, Tobacco Regulatory Science (TRS) is the development and application of a scientific base that will guide the FDA’s efforts in the drafting and implementation of regulations on the manufacture, marketing and sale/distribution of the variety of tobacco products, with the goal of protecting public health. TRS, especially with respect to the roles and responsibility of the TCORS does not include an advocacy role. In other words, TCORS are not funded to implement tobacco control activities, but rather to provide scientific evidence to guide the FDA’s decision-making process. USC TCORS’ aims listed on our ‘About: Overview’ page identifies the ways in which direct our specific research to inform tobacoo regulation.