Helping grantees overcome barriers in the path to new therapies

We’ve been rolling out our 2011 Annual Report stories throughout the past few weeks. The full report is posted online and is available for download from our website. Today we are introducing a story about CIRM’s efforts to overcome barriers in the path to the clinic.

CIRM’s primary focus is on funding stem cell research. But in order for that research to benefit patients we also need to help our grantees overcome the many barriers that exist in getting their research into clinical trials and to people who are waiting for new therapies.

CIRM has ramped up efforts in the past year to connect grantees with the critical skills and information they need to succeed. That includes hosting webinars and partnering events with industry (those webinars are archived on our website). We also blogged about many of those activities back in January.

In the annual report story we write:

Duane Roth, who is co-vice chair of CIRM’s governing board, said that the three Rs of therapy development—Research, Regulatory pathway, and Reimbursement—are all barriers for stem cell therapies to overcome in the established path to the market. Roth is Chief Executive Officer of CONNECT, a non-profit organization that fosters entrepreneurship in the San Diego area.

“There are so many things in the research phase that are ill defined, and the regulatory process is ill defined,” Roth said. “The numbers don’t add up. How does the company get paid to earn a profit?”

Roth has also been promoting the role of patient advocates in regulatory decision-making. We write:

Roth acknowledges that getting scientists and industry talking is a good first step to speeding therapies, but thinks there’s one group missing: patient advocates.

Serving on CIRM’s governing board with ten patient advocates changed Roth’s perception about the role of the advocate in promoting new therapies. “They have an incredible ability to focus on the benefit because it’s personal,” he said.

You can read more about CIRM’s efforts to ensure research doesn’t falter on the path to clinical trials in the story online. This is the eighth annual report story we’ve posted. Here are the others:

• Spotlights on Disease: Heart Failure
• Research Progress: Locking out HIV
• Spotlights on Disease: Autism
• Research Progress: Mimicking the pancreas
• Spotlights on Disease: Sickle Cell Disease
• Stem cell Therapy for the Economy
• Spotlight on Disease: Neuromyelitis Optica

You can also view the entire annual report on our website.

A.A.