Alan Trounson, president of the
California stem cell agency, this summer plans to seek $70 million
for creation of what he calls Alpha Clinics, high-powered
organizations that will fast-track stem cell therapies to patients.
The proposal is scheduled to come
before CIRM board at its meeting in late July and would consume a
significant slice of the $700 million to $800 million that the $3
billion agency has left to hand out.
Trounson broached the need for the
clinics as far back as two years ago, but did not put a price tag on
the concept until
an interview published online late today in the
Los
Angeles Times. The interview will be carried in the print edition of
the paper tomorrow.
In the Q&A session between Times
columnist Patt Morrison and Trounson, he said,
"I'm intending to set up a network of
stem cell clinics in California in the next couple of years, to make
treatments available as clinical trials or as registered treatments
for patients. I'm going to ask the [CIRM] board for about $70 million
to get that set up. It will make California a go-to place for stem
cell therapies. I want to make sure it's part of our medical fabric."
In other media reports in previous
years, Trounson has said the Alpha Clinics would speed delivery of
stem cell-based therapies and reduce costs of clinical trials by
building on the success of specialist cancer, transplant and in-vitro
fertilization clinics.
Leigh Dayton wrote about Trounson's
plan in
The Australian last July 14. Dayton said,
“Initially the clinics would use the
capacities and infrastructure in the most advanced university medical
clinics to deliver bone-marrow stem cell therapies. As research
evolves, so will the treatments and services offered.”
Trounson also discussed the Alpha
Clinics during an appearance at
USC in 2011. A university
publication wrote,
"These clinics will initially serve
to get patients into clinical trials or to offer sound advice to
individuals who might otherwise go overseas to receive harmful stem
cell therapies from disreputable clinics.
"'I’m willing to invest money to
get these [clinics] up,' Trounson said. 'I think if nothing happens
beyond 2017 and we don’t get any refunding, we can leave a
footprint of stem cell clinics in California that will go on
forever.'"
Trounson was not at last week's CIRM
board meeting, but Ellen Feigal, senior vice president for research
and development, said a white paper is being prepared on Alpha
Clinics. She said a concept proposal would be brought to the board
July 25 at a meeting in the San Francisco Bay Area. Once the board
approves the concept, the staff will then prepare and post the RFA.
Interested parties can address
suggestions or questions to Feigal at
info@cirm.ca.gov.
Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/lND8J7NKqzc/trounson-proposes-70-million-fast-track.html
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