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CIRM 2.0: Funding Stem Cell Research in a Faster, Smarter, More Effective Way

September 1, 2015

Kevin McCormack CIRMKevin McCormack is the Senior Director for Public Communications and Patient Advocate Outreach at the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), California’s stem cell agency. The agency was created by the voters of California when they approved Proposition 71 in 2004, giving CIRM $3 billion to fund stem cell research in California.

Imagine if you needed money for groceries and went to an ATM and were told you’d have to wait two years to get your cash. After what I imagine would be a few choice words at the ATM you would quickly turn around and go somewhere else.

Now imagine if you were a company with a terrific stem cell-based project that was ready for clinical trials and you needed financial support to carry out that trial, you wouldn’t want to wait two years to get that money would you? Most businesses couldn’t afford to wait two years; they’d go broke. But for a long time that’s how CIRM, California’s stem cell agency, funded work.

We would put out a request to companies and institutions for projects that were ready to go into clinical trials and that would begin a long process of approval. When I say long I mean that for successful applicants the average length of time it took to move from applying to getting the first installment of money was 22 months.

No more. We have introduced a new process we call CIRM 2.0 that instead of taking 22 months now takes just 120 days. That 120 days includes an in-house analysis to make sure the project meets our requirements, followed by a budget review to make sure the numbers add up. Next we convene our Grants Working Group (GWG), a panel of independent stem cell experts from around the world, who carry out a detailed analysis of the project and recommend whether or not CIRM should fund it. That recommendation then goes to the CIRM Board, which has the final say on funding. If they say yes we finalize a contract and get to work. All in 120 days or less.

CIRM 2.0 is faster, simpler and, more importantly, it is more responsive to the needs of the company or researcher behind the project. And the beauty of this approach is that there is a deadline for applications for clinical stage projects every month, so companies now need to apply only when they are ready. If they miss one deadline they can just wait 30 days and apply then.

Flexibility is built in to the system. For example, even if the GWG likes but isn’t completely wowed by the application, they can make recommendations on how to improve it so that the company can withdraw their application and make the appropriate changes (if they want to) and re-apply 30 days later.

The reason for the change is simple. CIRM’s mission is to accelerate the development of stem cell therapies for patients with unmet medical needs. The more we can speed up the application process and increase the number of high quality projects we fund, the more likely we are to meet our mission.

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Is it working? Well, in 2014 we had no new clinical-stage projects that we were funding. This year so far we have had 5. And each month more come in.

But we’re not satisfied with just speeding up the application for later stage research. We are now doing it for all stages of research, creating a pipeline of research that spans from Discovery – or basic – to Translational. Each piece is an important part of the puzzle, helping us develop a deeper understanding of stem cells and how best to use them to develop new treatments and cures for people with devastating diseases and disorders.

CIRM 1.0 was great for laying the foundation of our work. CIRM 2.0 is taking it to the next level. We’ve come a long way in one year but know that we still have a long way to go. There are always improvements to be made to be make the process even easier, faster, and smarter.

Change is never easy. But then battling a life-threatening disease that has no cure isn’t easy. Dr. Randy Mills, our President and CEO, has introduced a new motto to CIRM to help us stay focused on what we do. He says come to work every day as if lives depend on it, because lives depend on it.

Kevin McCormack | Senior Director for Public Communications and Patient Advocate Outreach at the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM)

 

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