Strategic Partnership II

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RFA 12-09: CIRM Strategic Partnership II Awards

The purpose of the Strategic Partnership Awards Initiative (“Initiative”) is to attract industry engagement and investment in CIRM funded stem cell research. The intent of the Initiative is to create incentives and processes that will: (i) enhance the likelihood that CIRM funded projects will obtain funding for Phase 3 clinical trials (e.g. follow-on financing), (ii) provide a source of co-funding in the earlier stages of clinical development, and (iii) enable CIRM funded projects to access expertise within pharmaceutical and large biotechnology partners in the areas of discovery, preclinical, regulatory, clinical trial design and manufacturing process development.

This Initiative requires applicants to show evidence of either having the financial capacity to move the project through development or of being able to attract the capital to do so. This may be evidenced by, for example, (i) significant investment by venture capital firms, large biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies and/or disease foundations; or (ii) a licensing and development agreement with a large biotechnology or pharmaceutical company or a commitment to enter into such an agreement executed prior to the disbursement of CIRM funding; and/or (iii) financial statements evidencing significant liquid assets.

CIRM intends to offer repeat calls under this initiative every 6-9 months. The focus, scope and objective may differ with each solicitation.

The objective of this second call under the Initiative, Strategic Partnership II Awards, is to achieve, in 4 years or less, the completion of a clinical trial under an Investigational New Drug (IND) application filed with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Please see the RFA for full details.

RFA 12-09: CIRM Strategic Partnership II Awards [pdf]

CIRM conducted a webinar for prospective applicants on December 4, 2012 to address questions about RFA 12-09 and the application process.

Click here to watch and listen to a recording of the session
.
Click here to download the presentation slides. [pdf]

Application Process

Submission of an application for the CIRM Strategic Partnership II Awards RFA involves a two-step process. An eligible applicant must first submit a Letter of Intent (LOI) to CIRM following the instructions below. In the second step of the process, eligible applicants will submit a full application. The Principal Investigator and the project proposed in the application must be the same as those described in the LOI; otherwise, the application is deemed ineligible.

LOI Submission Instructions:
The Letter of Intent (LOI) must be submitted via the CIRM Grants Management Portal, as follows:

  1. Go to the Grants Management Portal (https://grants.cirm.ca.gov/login/upgrade_browser) and log in with your existing CIRM Username and Password. If you do not have a Username, click on the “New User” link and follow the instructions to create a CIRM Username and password.
  2. After logging in, your home page will display a list of open RFAs or LOIs. Click on the “Start a Letter of Intent” link located to the right of the section labeled “RFA 12-09: CIRM Strategic Partnership II Awards: Letter of Intent“.
  3. Complete the LOI by following the posted instructions.
  4. The “Done with Letter of Intent” button becomes enabled when all sections are complete. Select this button to complete your LOI submission. Once this button has been selected, you will no longer be able to make changes to your LOI.
  5. To ensure the process is complete, go back to your home page and check for “RFA 12-09: CIRM Strategic Partnership II Awards ” in the section titled “Your Submitted Applications“.

The LOI must be received by CIRM no later than 5:00 pm (PST) on December 18, 2012 via the CIRM Grants Management Portal. No exceptions to this deadline will be made.

Application Instructions and Forms

Application forms will be available on the CIRM website https://grants.cirm.ca.gov/login/upgrade_browser in late Nov/early Dec 2012. Only those applicants that submitted an LOI that was accepted by CIRM may submit an application. Applicants will be notified if their LOI was NOT accepted.

The application for RFA 12-09 consists of up to ten parts:

Part A: Application Information Form (Web-based form)
Part B: Strategic Partnership II Award Proposal (MS Word template)
Part C: Biographical Sketches for Key Personnel (MS Word template)
Part D: Due Diligence Report.
Part E: Activity Based Budget
Part F: FDA correspondence.
Part G: Clinical Protocol
Part H: Investigator Brochure.
Part I: Copies of authorization for cross reference of Drug, Device or Facility master files.
Part J: Licenses and agreements (MTAs).

All applicable parts of the Application for RFA 12-09: CIRM Strategic Partnership II Awards must be submitted together and received by CIRM no later than 5:00PM PST on January 30, 2013 via the CIRM Grants Management Portal. It is the applicant’s responsibility to meet this deadline; No exceptions will be made.

 

Schedule of CIRM Deadlines and Reviews Date
LOI due 5:00 pm (PST), December 18, 2012
Applications due 5:00 pm (PST), January 30, 2013
Scientific Review of Applications by Grants Working Group (GWG)  April 2013
Review and Approval by ICOC July 2013
Earliest Funding of Awards October 2013

 

 

 

 

Contacts

For information about this RFA:

Ingrid Caras, Ph.D.
Science Officer
California Institute for Regenerative Medicine
Email: icaras@cirm.ca.gov
Phone: (415) 396-9114

For information about the review process:

Gilberto R. Sambrano, Ph.D.
Senior Review Officer
California Institute for Regenerative Medicine
Email: gsambrano@cirm.ca.gov
Phone: (415) 396-9103


ICOC Approval:
May 23, 2013
Total Awards:
1
Award Value:
$2,760,540

Awards

Institution Investigator Grant Title Award Value
Sangamo BioSciences, Inc. Dr. Fyodor D Urnov A Treatment For Beta-thalassemia via High-Efficiency Targeted Genome Editing of Hematopoietic Stem Cells $2,760,540
Total:
$2,760,540.00