This blog has on several occasions noted how the California
Institute for Regenerative Medicine
(CIRM) – established primarily to fund human embryonic stem cell
research (hESCR)—has instead in recent years been directing more and more of
its grants towards adult and other non-embryonic research projects.
Among the many categories of grants awarded by CIRM is the
Disease Team Research Awards. This
category was specifically established to fund projects that have the most
promise of actually leading to clinical trails.
The first
grants from this category were awarded in October, 2009. As
reported in a previous blog, of the 14 grants awarded, only four went to
projects using embryonic stem cells. In
dollar terms, of the $250 million awarded in total, only $71.5 million went to
the 4 hESCR projects; the rest went to adult and other non-embryonic stem cell
research projects. Clearly, in 2009 CIRM
believed such avenues of research offered far more promise of resulting in
clinical trials than hESCR.
And it turns out, that belief was not mistaken.
The first CIRM-funded research project to reach clinical trial
was recently announced: to use adult
stem cells to treat heart disease. The
researchers had received their funding under the above mentioned October, 2009
round of Disease Team Research Awards.
The FDA approval was a “critical step in testing promising
therapies in patients,” Ellen Feigal, MD, Senior Vice President for Research
and Development at CIRM, said. “It’s a reflection of the initial progress being
made in advancing scientific discoveries towards potential therapies for
patients.”
The numbers also tell an interesting story. The four hESCR projects that received funding
during that same October 2009 round of grants received between $15 million and
$20 million each. In marked contrast,
the adult stem cell project that first reached clinical trial received far
less. In fact, it received the smallest
amount of all the projects funded under this round -- $5.5 million, or three to
four times less than the hESCR projects.
Yet it has proved the most promising.
Halfway into CIRM’s 10-year lifespan, some have questioned whether
it has a future given the way it has fallen far short of the hype and
misplaced promises about therapies from hESCR.
The FDA approval of the CIRM-backed adult stem cell research project is
in this regard a much needed first for the Institute.
It just wasn’t a first that hESCR proponents predicted or
expected.
