(All Are Adult Stem Cells) CIRM

Planning awards advance new therapies for Huntington’s disease, critical limb ischemia, airway disease, HIV/AIDS and osteoporosis

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the state stem cell agency, today approved research planning grants for five UC Davis Health System teams that are working to develop human clinical trials to treat illnesses such as Huntington’s disease, vascular disease, osteoporosis, HIV/AIDS and airway disease in children. The awards are specifically designed to support collaborative research that will bring potential therapies to the Food and Drug Administration for approval within four years.

“These grants are extremely important to California and to the field of regenerative medicine,” said Jan Nolta, professor of internal medicine and director of the UC Davis Institute for Regenerative Cures. “They enable our teams of scientists and clinicians to plan stem cell clinical trials that will offer treatments to patients who currently have few if any other medical options.”

Stem cells offer the unique potential to restore tissue and repair damage caused by injury or disease. Developing new therapies can normally take 12 or more years. CIRM funding helps advance the most promising approaches for early phase clinical trials. Today’s grants, which range from $71,000 to $110,000, are the first in a two-step process toward applying for full research awards that will be available early next year and worth up to $20 million each.

Known as Disease Team Therapy Development Awards, the grants went to UC Davis stem cell research teams working on five different health disorders

via CIRM approves stem cell research planning grants for five UC Davis teams.