research organization stem cell California made its first prize for a clinical trial. The recipient of the $ 25 million is Geron Corp., a biotech company in Menlo Park, California, which is already being tested cells derived from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) to treat injuries of the spinal cord spinal.
Yesterday, the Board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) has approved funding of Geron, which is actually a loan. Chairman of the Board Robert Klein called the award "a historic step for CIRM." Phase I trial of Geron's first approved the world of the trial (in 09) for a therapy derived hESCs. (The Food and Drug Administration approved a second trial for an eye disease in November 2010). He has been in the news lately because its first patient, a young man in Georgia who was partially paralyzed in a car accident, spoke at the press about his treatment.
CIRM has funded clinical trials before, including a loan of $ 20 million to Novocell Inc., now known as ViaCyte, in San Diego, but the prices were to the pre-clinical work. the Geron loan is offset by the company's funds and contingent will be refunded if the treatment is a commercial success, according to the press release of Geron.
an external review last year CIRM urged to reach over to industry. Sometime one of the criticisms of the agency, John Simpson of Consumer Watchdog Group in Santa Monica, California, was quoted in Los Angeles Times praising the Geron loan as well subject to selection and appropriate.
The Board also approved $ 37.7 million for 27 basic biology grants, as well as a plan to create a repository of cells induced pluripotent stem cells, which are derived from adult cells. The agency is working on the project with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (for more, see this recent Nature story).
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