Tuesday, March 08, 2016

California Stem Cell Agency to Award More Than $7 Million for Duchenne and 'Bubble Boy' Afflictions

Highlights
Capricor, UCSF win
Duchenne, "bubble boy" affliction targeted
Board linkage to recipient enterprises

The California stem cell agency is set next week to make two awards totaling $7.4 million to a Beverly Hills stem cell firm and to scientists at UC San Francisco for late stage research into therapies for rare diseases.

The largest award, $4.3 million, appears to be going to a team in San Francisco that has already received $3.9 million for its research. The lead scientists on that effort were Morton Cowan and Jennifer Puck

The latest award involves the "bubble boy" immunodeficiency disease. The agency's summary of the application review said that the research "could lead to a lasting cure" for that version of the affliction. 

The review said the treatment would modify a gene "to become normal by addition of a correct copy of the Artemis/DCLRE1C DNA repair gene (Art)." The goal of the grant is to complete nonclinical efficacy studies and set the stage for a clinical trial in 18 months.

Meeting behind closed doors earlier this year, the agency's blue-ribbon, out-of-state grant reviewers narrowly approved the application on 8-6-1 vote, meaning eight favored the award,  six thought the application needed improvement and one voted for denial. The governing board of the agency, formally known as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), has a decade-long record of going along with its reviewers' positive funding decisions. Reviewers are not required to publicly disclose their economic or professional interests.

Also approved by reviewers was a $3.4 million award to Capricor, Inc., a firm that has already received $19.8 million from the agency to develop stem cell heart treatments, The $19.8 million came on top of earlier, related funding for research at Cedars-Sinai that hit $7 million. The lead scientist on those efforts was Eduardo Marban, who co-founded the firm with his wife, Linda. She is now president of the firm. He is chairman of the scientific advisory board.  

Capricor will add $2.3 million in matching funds to what CIRM provides to finance a clinical trial of the firm's treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy cardiomyopathy using a product called CAP-1002. The review summary said the treatment is "intended to stop fibrosis and potentially initiate regeneration following administration."

No therapies exist for treatment of cardiomyopathy for persons with Duchenne, according to the review summary.

The reviewers voted 12-1-0 to approve the award. 

Capricor is publicly traded. Its stock closed today at $2.18. Its 52-week high was $10.68 and its low was $1.88.

CIRM's governing board includes representatives from Cedars-Sinai and UC San Francisco. About 90 percent of the $1.9 billion awarded by CIRM has gone to enterprises with links to past or present board members.

CIRM does not disclose the names of award recipients until after the full board acts. The California Stem Cell Report identified the applicants on the basis of publicly available information. 

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