BY DAVID JENSEN POSTED 11.20.2017
Parkinson’s is a devastating disease that afflicts 10 million people in the world and 125,000 in California.
Jeanne Loring, director of the Scripps Center for Regenerative Medicine in La Jolla, and also a participant in the GForce initiative, said this week that CIRM has not supported Parkinson’s research at the level of the other enterprises involved in GForce.
In an item she wrote for The Niche, a blog published by UC Davis researcher Paul Knoepfler, she listed $52.3 million in support plus substantial backing from BlueRock Therapeutics, which is financed with $225 million from Bayer AG and Versant Ventures. BlueRock, a Cambridge, Mass., firm, says on its web site, “Our most advanced therapeutic candidate, for Parkinson’s disease, will enter the clinic in 2018.
Parkinson’s is a devastating disease that afflicts 10 million people in the world and 125,000 in California. One of those persons, David Higgins of San Diego, currently serves on the board of the stem cell agency, formally known as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). Another, Joan Samuelson, was one of the original board members in 2004 and a fervent but often frustrated voice for Parkinson’s research at many CIRM board meetings.
“We hope that CIRM will follow the example of New York, the EU, and Japan, and invest more in our project to provide neuron replacement therapy for Californians with Parkinson’s disease.” — Jeanne Loring
Actor Michael J. Fox, who made TV ads for the 2004 ballot initiative that created the stem cell agency, is also among the those living with the disease. Others with the affliction included the late boxing champion Muhammad Ali and famed semiconductor pioneer Andy Grove.
Loring wrote on The Niche about a meeting in Japan earlier this year dealing with the research teams in the GForce project.
“The Kyoto meeting was unprecedented in my experience,” she said. “Instead of competing, the four groups cooperated and shared plans for their proposed clinical trials. We agreed to harmonize our trials and stay in communication about our progress. All of us plan to start clinical trials within two years.”
“Since my team has been recognized by the international GForce initiative devoted to safe effective therapy for PD, we hope that CIRM will follow the example of New York, the EU, and Japan, and invest more in our project to provide neuron replacement therapy for Californians with Parkinson’s disease,” Loring continued.
“While we hope to gain more support from CIRM, we are determined to follow through with our clinical trial, with or without CIRM. It will just be more difficult without their help. The patients and their advocates inspire us, and we won’t let them down,” she said.
Loring added more information on Sunday (Nov. 19) concerning CIRM funding. She told the California Stem Cell Report.
|”We started our pre-clinical PD studies in 2011, with funding from Summit for Stem Cell. The first and only funding we received from CIRM for PD research was in 2016.
“Before 2011, CIRM invested $41,838,336. Since 2011, CIRM has invested $7,357,468. This means that the majority of the funding went to projects that didn’t lead to any translational or clinical applications.
“There are currently three active grants working on Parkinson’s disease, for a total of $4.9 million. We have the only translational grant, and it will expire in March 2018. All but $650,000 runs out by the spring of 2018.
“There are no more grants forthcoming for our work. The Scaled Biolabs grant awarded this year is a partnership with us. Birgitt Schuele’s grant is basic research, not a cell therapy.
(Below are the three active grants identified by Loring.)
2017
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Ed’s Note: David Jensen is a retired newsman who has followed the affairs of the $3 billion California stem cell agency since 2005 via his blog, the California Stem Cell Report, where this story first appeared. He has published more than 4,000 items on California stem cell matters in the past 11 years.
http://capitolweekly.net/n-ew-push-parkinsons-disease-stem-cell/
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