The CIRM Team gather to give Thanks

Thanksgiving is traditionally a time of reflection, a time to look back and express gratitude for all the good things that have happened in the past year. At CIRM we have a lot to be thankful for but this Thanksgiving we are looking forward, not backward. We’re unveiling our new Strategic Plan, our blueprint for the future, and we would love to hear what you think about it.

Randy Mills, our President and CEO, calls the Strategic Plan “a bold, new vision” for what we hope to achieve over the next five years. After reading it we hope you’ll agree.

Taking it on the road

We actually began this process several months ago with a talking tour of California. Randy Mills went around the state talking to researchers, academics, company officials, patients and patient advocates – anyone who has a stake in what we do. He posed a few simple questions such as: “what’s impeding progress?” and “how do you think we could do better?” and asked them what they thought we should focus on in the next five years.

As you can imagine we got a wide range of answers, but there was also surprising agreement on some key issues – such as the need to push for regulatory reform to help remove some of the obstacles slowing down the ability of researchers to move their therapies into clinical trials.

Bold ideas

The plan is an ambitious one, but then as Sherry Lansing, the cancer Patient Advocate member of our Board, says in a news release, why aim low:

“As we enter what could be CIRM’s last phase, we want to show the people of California that we are doing everything we can to fulfill the hopes of all those who voted to create the agency when they supported Proposition 71 in 2004.  That’s what this Strategic Plan demonstrates. It’s an ambitious plan, but you never achieve anything worthwhile by playing it safe. Too many lives are at stake for us to do anything less than work as hard as we can, as long as we can, to achieve as much as we can.”

Over the course of the next five years we hope to:

• Launch 50 new clinical trials covering at least 20 unique diseases or conditions, and including at least 10 rare and 5 pediatric indications
• Increase the number of projects advancing to the next stage of development by 50%
• Work with patient advocates, the FDA and researchers to develop a new, more efficient regulatory process for cell therapies
• Reduce the time it takes a stem cell therapy to move from discovery into a clinical trial by 50%

But wait, there’s more

And that’s just a taste of what we are planning. For the full picture you need to check out the Strategic Plan. But as Randy Mills says, we don’t want you to just read it. This process began with us asking you for your thoughts. Now we want to end it the same way.

“Your input was invaluable in helping us chart an ambitious course and giving us the inspiration to be bold and think outside of the box. Now, as we get ready to put this new vision for the agency into action, we want to share it with the public, with patients and patient advocates, scientists and researchers, and give them a chance to let us know what they think.”

Here’s where you can find the Strategic Plan.

What do you think?

If you have any thoughts or comments send them to me by 5pm, Thursday, December 3^rd at kmccormack@cirm.ca.gov

The Strategic Plan is due to go before the CIRM Science Subcommittee on Monday, November 30^th and the full Board for its approval on Thursday, December 17^th.