HOUSE OVERSIGHT 013483 Through its Common Fund the NIH has established the Center for Regenerative Medicine (NIH CRM), to support this field, with the goal of accelerating the translation of stem cell-based clinical therapies. State funding filling the void With stem cell research in general not attracting a significant amount of venture funding, the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), which was established in 2004 with $3 billion for stem cell research at California universities and research institutions, has begun to fill the void left by traditional venture capital firms. To date CIRM has allocated $150 million in funding to help move promising stem cell-based therapies from the bench into clinical trials. 'We are a lot closer to having promising therapies ready for clinical trials, so it makes sense that we step up our engagement with industry to help fund those trials and move those therapies closer to approval by the FDA," said Duane Roth, vice chair of the governing board of CIRM. CIRM's funding for translational research is good news for biotech companies, providing them with a source of funds in a field where it remains challenging to raise private capital. Three biotech companies have been funded so far under CIRM's Strategic Partnership Awards initiative. A grant of $10.1 million was awarded to ViaCyte Inc. to continue preclinical research and initiate clinical testing of an embryonic stem cell-based therapy for patients with insulin-dependent diabetes. Meanwhile, Bluebird Bio Inc. will use a $9.3 million grant to support a Phase I/II study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of LentiGlobin, the company's programme for the treatment of the inherited blood disorder beta-thalassemia, which will be initiated in the US in 2013. StemCells Inc. has been awarded up to $20 million to fund preclinical development of its product consisting of purified human neural stem cells for treating Alzheimer's disease, with the goal of fil