CIRM Leader Plans Reboot of Grant, Loan Application Process

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine is planning to reboot the state's stem cell research program this year, the Los Angeles Times' "The Economy Hub" reports (Hiltzik, "The Economy Hub," Los Angeles Times, 1/3).

Background on CIRM

California founded CIRM in 2004 after voters approved Proposition 71, which provided $3 billion to help stem cell researchers develop therapies for various conditions (California Healthline, 4/2/14).

In the 10 years since the agency was created, it has allocated about two-thirds of its $3 billion endowment.

According to "The Economy Hub," CIRM at its current loan and grant approval rate has enough funding to last until about 2020, at which point the program would need to seek approval for more public funding.

Details of Reboot

CIRM President and CEO C. Randal Mills said the program update -- dubbed CIRM 2.0 -- includes plans to streamline the program's process for grant and loan approval. Mills said the program will aim to decrease application review times from about 22 months to four months ("The Economy Hub," Los Angeles Times, 1/3).

Mills said the reboot also aims to:

• Increase the number of high quality applications; and
• Speed up progression of funded projects (CIRM presentation, 12/11/14).

In a presentation, Mills said, "We need to do [the approval process] quickly and also focus on quality" ("The Economy Hub," Los Angeles Times, 1/3).