Regional Government of Andalusia, Spain and California Announce International Collaboration to Advance Stem Cell Research toward Cures
DETROIT, Michigan, October 5, 2010—The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the state’s stem cell agency, and the Andalusian Initiative for Advanced Therapies are announcing today an international collaboration on stem cell research.
The agreement was signed Tuesday at the World Stem Cell Summit by the Executive Director of the Andalusian Initiative for Advanced Therapies, Natividad Cuende, and the President of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Alan Trounson, along with CIRM Governing Board Chair, Robert Klein. The Andalusian institution is an initiative of the regional government of Andalusia through its Regional Ministry of Health and in collaboration with the Regional Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Science and supported by the Fundacion Progresso y Salud.
The agreement will make it easier for researchers in California and Andalusia to obtain joint funding and to interchange know-how in the area of regenerative medicine. The agencies may develop workshops, conferences, as well as training and exchange programs that will encourage collaboration among researchers.
“CIRM and the Andalusian Initiative share the mission to accelerate the field of stem cell research as a whole through international collaborations that involve the best scientific endeavors, regardless of geography,” said CIRM president Trounson.
In particular, CIRM and the Andalusian Initiative are considering co-funding the preclinical research that is required to prepare potential therapies for clinical trials and to co-fund clinical research. This stage of research often benefits greatly from diverse multiple loci for the work.
“This kind of agreement and collaboration allows the sharing of scientific knowledge and promotes translational research that brings therapies to patients, ” said the Andalusian Initiative executive director Cuende.
For CIRM this agreement builds on the seven other international Collaborative Funding Partner agreements the agency has developed. “Andalucia will now join seven other international funding agencies—the MRC in the United Kingdom, the CSCC in Canada, the state of Victoria in Australia, the MICINN in Spain, JST in Japan, MOST in China and BMBF in Germany—as a partner with California in accelerating critical stem cell research to relieve the suffering of patients and families throughout the world,” said CIRM chairman Klein.
About CIRM: The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) was established in 2005 with the passage of Proposition 71, the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Act. The statewide ballot measure, which provided $3 billion in funding for stem cell research at California universities and research institutions, was overwhelmingly approved by voters, and called for the establishment of an entity to make grants and provide loans for stem cell research, research facilities, and other vital research opportunities. For more information, please visit www.cirm.ca.gov.
About Andalusian Initiative for Advanced Therapies: The Andalusian Initiative for Advanced Therapies is an initiative from the Regional Government of Andalusia promoted by the Regional Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Regional Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Science. Its main objectives are the development and translation of the results obtained in the three Advanced Therapies Research Programmes into new therapies: the Andalusian Research Programme for Cell Therapy and Regenerative Medicine, the Andalusian Research Programme for Clinical Genetics and Genomic Medicine and the Andalusian Research Programme for Nanomedicine. Nowadays, this entity is promoting 12 clinical trials in cell therapy in the Andalusian Public Health System in different fields: cardiology, neurology, endocrinology, immunology and peripheral vascular diseases.
Media Contacts:
CIRM
Don Gibbons
415-396-9117
dgibbons@cirm.ca.gov
Andalusian Initiative for Advanced Therapies
Gema Castilla
34 677 906 787
gema.castilla@juntadeandalucia.es