Showing posts with label basic biology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label basic biology. Show all posts

Monday, July 06, 2015

New 'Railroad' Coming to the $3 Billion California Stem Cell Agency; Basic Research Financing to Get New Ticket

"If you want a bike, don't ask for a toy"
Scientists welcome to comment

Directors of the $3 billion California stem cell agency this month will take a crack at building a new, basic research “railroad” with the hope of creating a “predictable path” to development of therapies and cures.

The move will involve funding for basic and translational research, the initial steps that lead to producing therapies that can be widely used by the public.

The effort is scheduled for approval at a meeting July 15 of the agency directors’ Science Subcommittee. The agenda for the meeting was posted last week minus details of the “concept plan” for the move. However, the changes are part of the CIRM 2.0 effort initiated by Randy Mills, president of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), as the agency is formally known.

Mills kicked off CIRM 2.0 in January. His initial foray involved the more advanced research efforts that are engaged in testing treatments on human beings. Mills described the CIRM 2.0 program as “radical.”

In May, Mills sketched out the thinking behind extension of the CIRM 2.0 approach to basic research.

He told directors at their meeting that month,
“The first thing is we need is a continuous predictable path from discovery to clinical. So if we have a discovery program (basic and translational research), the purpose of that discovery program ought to be to deliver something downstream to where it ultimately impacts patients. That kind of makes sense.”

Mills quoted CIRM senior science officer Lila Collins as saying about the approach,
“If you want a bike, don’t ask for a toy.”

Under past procedures, Mills said basic research findings financed by CIRM only advanced 5 percent of the time. He acknowledged that it is “really difficult” to foresee where basic research is headed. But he said an analysis of the CIRM grants showed that when the agency specified that it wanted the research to progress, it advanced 30 percent of the time instead of 5 percent. 

Using primarily a railroad analogy, Mills said,
“We need to put intent into the RFA that says we want you to be creating something, and we want you to be thinking forward ….Maybe you don't take it there, but how is it going to move ultimately downstream? We want you to be thinking about that at the time you apply because if you do, we know it has a much better chance of going to thenext station.” 

Mills said,
“We need to have track that's continuous….We need to make sure thetrains run on time. We need to have predictable progression. We call this baton passing. We want the cargo on the train to proceed down the track. And we need to be really creative on how we're going to do that.
 “We need to be responsive to new developments and downstream bottlenecks. And then, lastly, we need to have multiple development pathways so we basically serve all of the destinations we want to serve.”

Even if scientists are not entirely pleased with the new approach, they are likely to climb aboard. Research funds nationally are scarce. CIRM itself has not offered a basic biology grant round since March 2013.

However, Mills’ latest proposal is still subject to modification. The Science Subcommittee may ask for changes before sending it to the full board for approval on July 23 at a session in Berkeley. Researchers and the public are welcome to comment and make suggestions.

Details of the concept plan are likely to be posted at least a few days before the Science Subcommittee meeting July 15. The meeting is open to the public with sites available in San Francisco, Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, UC Irvine, Pasadena and San Diego. See the agenda for addresses.

Written comments can be emailed to CIRM directors via mbonneville@cirm.ca.gov. 

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

$27 Million Approved for Basic Stem Cell Research in California

Directors of the California stem cell today approved, 11-0, about $27 million for basic research into workings of stem cells.

The round was originally budgeted for $40 million, but grant reviewers did not approve grants that would have required that level of funding.

Reviewers recommended 21 grants for approval for a total of $21 million. CIRM staff recommended another five costing $4.8 million. The 29-member board added another two grants totaling $1.1 million.

The board rejected other pitches by reviewer-rejected applicants for reconsideration. The stem cell agency later today is expected to release the names of all the winners. It never releases the names of rejected applicants.
 (Here is a link to the CIRM press release with the names of the winners.)

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

$21 Million Likely for California's Basic Stem Cell Research

Directors of the California stem cell agency tomorrow are expected to approve at least $21 million for basic research into “significant, unresolved issues in human stem cell biology.”

The round was originally slated for $40 million but grant reviewers decided to fund only 20 applications out of 62. The round began with 341 scientists filing pre-applications.

(Here is a link to reviewers' summaries and rankings as well as a link to the CIRM staff's Power Pointpresentation.)

CIRM President Alan Trounson and his staff recommended approval of five additional applications totaling$4.8 million. The rationale in their recommendations could be considered fulsome compared to what Trounson offered on the $40 million genomics round also to be considered tomorrow.

Five additional researchers filed letters with the CIRM governing board seeking its approval. Those letters can be found on the agenda for tomorrow's meeting. Seven researchers filed formal appeals with the CIRM, which are now dealt with behind closed doors by the agency's staff.

The 20 applicants given the nod by reviewers were placed in a tier one category that is virtually certain to be approved by the board with no debate. Others were ranked in a wobbler category called tier two, meaning it could go either way for the scientists. The remainder fell into tier three – not recommended for funding by reviewers.

The board is increasingly turning to proposals that will turn more advanced research into clinical treatments. If directors do not go for spending the entire $40 million budgeted, they would save money that could be used for clinical trials. However, aside from the general arguments for doing basic research, those grants provide large sums to recipient institutions to pay for their overhead. And many of the agency's board members come from institutions that could benefit from payments for those overhead costs. Those board members will not be allowed to vote on applications involving their institutions.

(Editor's note: The number of researchers filing formal appeals was not contained in an earlier version of this article.)

Sunday, December 09, 2012

$40 Million High-Risk Stem Cell Research; IOM and CIRM on Engaging Biotech Biz

Directors of the California stem cell agency this Wednesday will be asked to approve initiation of a $40 million, high-risk research program aimed at filling “key gaps” in knowledge about human stem cell behavior.

The concept plan for the round – called Basic Biology V – will come up for approval at the governing board meeting in Los Angeles.  Pre-applications are expected to be due in March.

The staff proposal calls for as many as 30 awards, but did not specify a limit on the total dollars for each award. The competition is open to both business and academics and non-profit organizations.

The proposal said that the round is targeting “high-risk, exploratory pursuits.” The goal is to fill “key gaps in our understanding of fundamental human stem cell behaviors that hinder the pace of discovery, and ultimately prevent the potential of this research from being fully realized.”

Additionally up for consideration at this week's meeting is a “blueprint” for “engaging industry and supporting commercialization” of CIRM research. A blue-ribbon study by the Institute of Medicine last week also recommended that CIRM engage industry more warmly. However, there were striking differences between what the IOM recommended and what CIRM proposed. The CIRM plan was prepared prior to the release of the IOM report. 

The CIRM proposal laid out the following objectives that were prompted by an “external review” two years ago.
  •  “Attract Follow-On Financing and Co-funding of CIRM Funded Research
  •  “Support of Company Creation/Growth/Relocation
  • “Early Engagement of Top Tier Biopharmaceutical Companies in Order to Access Critical Expertise
  • “Assume a Leadership Role in Business Related Areas the are Critical for Supporting the Field”
The CIRM memo listed a number of initiatives that the agency has already started and said more are expected to come. They include the already enacted, new business-friendly award program, the recent hire of an unidentified business development officer, designation of industry “collaborators,” relocation support for high impact companies and participation with industry in developing “reimbursement pathways” that will benefit the regenerative medicine industry.

“Reimbursement” is the euphemistic term that industry prefers instead of saying “beefing up profits.”

Last week, the report by the Institute of Medicine, which cost CIRM $700,000,  noted that biotech firms have received only about 6 percent of the $1.7 billion handed out by CIRM, a figure not mentioned by the eight-year-old agency's industry engagement plan.

The IOM said that industry representation on the agency's critical, decision-making boards (the governing board and standards and grant reveiew groups) should be enhanced. Additionally, a new scientific advisory board with substantial industry presence should be created to replace existing advisory groups. All of which would be aimed at enhancing and leveraging industry “expertise and resources in product development, manufacturing, and regulatory approval in support of the ultimate goal of bringing therapies to patients,” according to the IOM.  

Thursday, September 06, 2012

California Stem Cell Agency Okays $38 Million for Basic Research

Directors of the California stem cell agency today approved about $38 million for research into basic biology, including two appeals by researchers on applications initially rejected by reviewers.

The governing board turned down five appeals in the round, which attracted 357 applications in its "pre-app" process, 64 of which were invited to apply. Reviewers approved 25 applications.

The following appeals in the biology round were approved:
  • $1.3 million, Deborah Lieu of UC Davis. (Review summary here, appeal here.) 764
  • $1.4 million, Yanhong Shi  of the City of Hope. (See review summary here and appeal here.)
The board also approved another application that was rejected by reviewers based on a recommendation by CIRM President Alan Trounson.  It is very unusual for the board to approve rejected applications based on staff recommendations following a review. Trounson described the grant addressed a major bottleneck in stem cell science.

 The California stem cell agency is expected to post a press release shortly with the names of all recipients. The agency usually withholds names of applicants until the the board formally acts.
(An earlier version of this item reported that the board approved $37 million in grants.)

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