Late last week, the Governing Board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) announced plans to grant more than $50 million to fund new clinical trials and other projects that may lead to the development of new stem cell therapies.

The Targeted Clinical Development Awards will provide funding for early clinical development, including early-stage trials testing therapies derived from pluripotent stem cells. However, the grants go beyond these early-stage trials and also fund activities such as manufacturing the treatment. The idea behind the grants is to reduce the time from research to the physician’s office.

Robert Klein, chair of the CIRM Governing Board, said this program is one of the reasons California voters supported Proposition 71, which brought CIRM into being.

“[By] helping to bring candidate therapeutics into the clinic, CIRM is fulfilling the desires of California voters who supported Proposition 71’s mission of developing novel therapies for incurable diseases,” said Klein. “The Clinical Development Awards will provide critically needed support for the earliest and hardest-to-fund stage of clinical research.”

Klein went on to say the benefit would not only be seen by the development of new treatments, but also by the development of new jobs and tax revenues here in California.

“These therapies should provide healthcare cost savings and create new tax revenues for California,” he said.

CIRM expects to release the RFA this spring, with applications due in July. Funding recommendations from the independent grants working group will come before the Governing Board for final approval in December.