It began as an ambitious idea; yesterday it became a reality when the CIRM Board approved two projects under CIRM 2.0, one of them a Phase 3 clinical trial for a deadly form of skin cancer.

Just to recap, CIRM 2.0 was introduced by Dr. C. Randal Mills when he took over as President and CEO of the stem cell agency last year. The idea is to speed up the way we work, to get money to the most promising therapies and the best science as quickly as possible. It puts added emphasis on speed, patients and partnerships.

Yesterday our Board approved the first two projects to come before them under this new way of working. One was for almost $18 million for NeoStem, which is planning a Phase 3 clinical trial for metastatic melanoma, a disease that last year alone claimed more than 10,000 lives in the U.S.

This will be the first Phase 3 trial we have funded so clearly it’s quite a milestone for us and for NeoStem. If it proves effective in this trial it could well be approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in melanoma patients. The therapy itself is unique in that it uses the patient’s own tumor cells to create a personalized therapy, one that is designed to engage the patient’s immune system and destroy the cancer.

The Board also approved almost $5 million for Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles to do the late-stage research needed to apply to the FDA for approval for a clinical trial to treat retinitis pigmentosa (RP). RP is a nasty, degenerative condition that slowly destroys a patient’s vision. There is no cure and no effective therapy.

We are currently funding another clinical trial in this area. The two projects use different types of cells and propose different methods of reducing RP’s devastation. CIRM has a record of trying multiple routes to achieve success when dealing with unmet medical needs.

As Dr. Mills said in a news release, both the therapies approved for funding yesterday support our mission:

“CIRM 2.0 is designed to accelerate the development of treatments for people with unmet medical needs, and these two projects clearly fit that description. With the Board’s approval today we will now get this work up and running within the next 45 days. But that’s just the start. We are not just providing financial support, we are also partnering with these groups to provide expertise, guidance and other kinds of support that these teams need to help them be successful. That’s the promise of CIRM 2.0. Faster funding, better programs and a more comprehensive approach to supporting their progress.”

CIRM Chair Jonathan Thomas swearing in new Board members Adriana Padilla and Bob Price

Two seemed to be the number of the day yesterday with the Board welcoming two new members.

Dr. Adriana Padilla is the new Patient Advocate Board member for type 2 Diabetes. She’s a family physician, a member of the University of California, San Francisco-Fresno medical faculty, and an award-winning researcher with expertise in diabetes and its impact on Latino families and the health system in California’s Central Valley. She is also active in the National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA) and is also a member of the American Diabetes Association.

Dr. Padilla said she hopes her presence will help increase awareness among Latinos of the importance of the work the agency is doing:

“When I was asked about being on the Board I did some research to find out more and it was really touching to learn about some of the exciting work that has been done by the agency and the possibilities that can be done for patients, including those I serve, members of the Latino community.”

Dr. Bob Price is the Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and a Professor of Political Science at U.C. Berkeley. His academic and teaching interests include comparative politics, with a particular interest in the politics of South Africa. This is Dr. Price’s second time on the Board.  He previously served as the alternate to UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau.

Although he has only been off the Board for a little more than a year Dr. Price said he is aware of the big changes that have taken place in that time and is looking forward to being a part of the new CIRM 2.0.