CIRM invests $10 million to build California Cell and Gene Therapy Manufacturing Network
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the world’s largest institution dedicated to regenerative medicine, awarded $10 million to five facilities as part of the first phase to build a California Cell and Gene Therapy Manufacturing Network.
The awards include:
IApplication #: NFR5-14663
Program Title: Laboratory for Cell and Gene Medicine: A partner in the California Cell and Gene Therapy Manufacturing Network
Principal Investigator/Institution: Steven Feldman — Stanford University
Amount: $2,000,000
Application #: INFR5-14739
Program Title: Enhancing California’s Manufacturing of Leading-Edge Cell & Gene Therapies
Principal Investigator/Institution: Dawn Ward — University of California, Los Angeles
Amount: $2,000,000
IApplication #: NFR5-14756
Program Title: Scalable Expansion for Stem Cell-Derived Therapies
Principal Investigator/Institution: Taby Ahsan — Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope
Amount: $1,998,174
Application #: INFR5-14636
Program Title: A comprehensive biomanufacturing center solving bottlenecks in cell and gene therapy manufacturing to accelerate new therapies for California patients
Principal Investigator/Institution: Dhruv Sareen — Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Amount: $2,000,000
Application #: INFR5-14719
Program Title: Open Manufacturing Network for Cell and Gene Therapies
Principal Investigator/Institution: Brian Rudolph Shy — University of California, San Francisco
Amount: $1,999,933
The statewide network is designed to overcome manufacturing bottlenecks that have delayed or stalled development and approval of regenerative medicines.
“These awards are a critical first step in formation of the manufacturing network and will help California academic GMP manufacturing facilities raise the quality and competency of cell and gene therapy manufacturing across the state,” says CIRM Senior Director of Business Development & Alliance Management Dr. Shyam Patel. “Plus, these awards will also provide manufacturing career training opportunities for Californians, which align perfectly with CIRM’s mission.”
Phase one of the awards will fund California non-profit GMP manufacturing facilities for two years. Each facility will support in accelerating and de-risking the path to commercialization for cell and gene therapies, advancing industry standards and quality by design, and building a diverse and highly skilled manufacturing workforce in California.
Phase two of the awards will fund collaborative partnerships that will scale efforts from the first phase across the network.
In addition to manufacturing awards, CIRM awarded $10.6 million to Dr. Pei Wang of Eureka Therapeutics, Inc. for a phase 1 clinical trial to assess the safety and tolerability of a cell therapy for pediatric liver cancer.
In the proposed therapy, T cells from the patient’s immune system are modified to specifically target and kill cancer cells. If successful, the proposed therapy may offer a potential treatment for relapsed/refractory pediatric liver cancers, for which there are currently no approved therapies.
The clinical award is part of CIRM’s CLIN2 awards, which support with the completion of a clinical trial for a regenerative medicine-based therapy (stem cell-based or gene therapy) that addresses an unmet medical need.
This award brings the total of CIRM-funded clinical trials to 91.
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