Tracking the CIRM: 'Life Beyond 2023,' Closed Door DEI Session, $60 Million Building Program for Hinterland Community Centers

All are on one or another CIRM table during the next two weeks

Depositphotos graphic

California’s stem cell and gene therapy program takes up its search for a new president and other matters this month, but one event is of special interest to researchers and patient advocates. 

It involves a rare public discussion of possible recommendations Thursday by the agency’s grant reviewers concerning the direction of the $12 billion program’s clinical-trial stage funding. The last discussion of this sort occurred before the 2020 ballot initiative that refinanced the agency, formally known as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM).

During this fiscal year, CIRM is budgeted to spend $252 million on clinical-stage research. It is likely to remain at that level or higher until CIRM funds run out in nine years or less.

Since CIRM’s inception, it has helped to finance 96 clinical trials. Its clinical trials dashboard, however, does not include the total spending for those awards. None has become a commercial stem cell product available to the general public.

The agenda only carries eight words about the “opportunities” topic. But, in response to a question last Friday, Koren Temple-Parker, senior director of communications, said that reviewers “will be asked how CIRM might make the greatest impact and what challenges or opportunities they see in the field that CIRM can address.”

She said that the session would be handled similarly to a 2019 meeting that asked reviewers: “What should CIRM be thinking about now to prepare for a possible life beyond 2020?” In this week’s meeting, the question may be rephrased as “life beyond 2023.”