CIRM Board Expands Efforts of COVID-19 Program

Oakland, CA – Today the governing Board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) expanded efforts related to the $5 million in emergency funding for the CIRM COVID-19 program.

The new guidelines mean that inception discovery projects (DISC1), whose goal is developing new and transformational ideas, will now be eligible for CIRM COVID-19 funding.  These projects can receive up to $150,000 and must have data to confirm or reject their hypothesis within 6 months. In addition to this, quest discovery projects (DISC2), which promote the discovery of new technologies that could be translated to enable broad use, can now receive up to $250,000 in funding.

The Board approved using $1 million from the program in supplemental support for CIRM-funded COVID-19 clinical trials. Under the change an existing clinical trial can receive up to $250,000 in additional funding but must demonstrate sufficient progress and specific activities in order to be eligible.  The Board will also require that all clinical trial projects include a plan for outreach and study participation by underserved and disproportionately affected populations.

The Board also strongly encouraged those that meet the stem cell component for vaccine development for COVID-19 to apply for funding.

“We continue to receive large amounts of inquiries and applications to the COVID-19 program announcement,” said Maria T. Millan, M.D., President and CEO of CIRM. “The amendments passed by our Board today will provide additional opportunities for CIRM to support novel vaccine development, fundamental discoveries and the acceleration of clinical programs.”

About CIRM

At CIRM, we never forget that we were created by the people of California to accelerate stem cell treatments to patients with unmet medical needs, and act with a sense of urgency to succeed in that mission.

To meet this challenge, our team of highly trained and experienced professionals actively partners with both academia and industry in a hands-on, entrepreneurial environment to fast track the development of today’s most promising stem cell technologies.

With $3 billion in funding and approximately 300 active stem cell programs in our portfolio, CIRM is the world’s largest institution dedicated to helping people by bringing the future of cellular medicine closer to reality.

For more information go to www.cirm.ca.gov