CIRM’s 2017 Annual Report will go live online soon. In anticipation of that we are highlighting some of the key elements from the report here on the Stem Cellar.

CIRM funds stem cell research.  We all know that.  What you may not know is that CIRM also helps bring in additional funding and investment to these projects, and, as a result, to the state of California.  CIRM’s investment can also help validate a project’s credibility and reduce the risk of investing in it.

We call this second wave of support “Leveraged Funding”. Since we were created in 2004, we have brought in $1.5 billion in Leveraged Funds.

Main categories

1. Co-Funding– This is funding that was specifically committed to help co-fund a CIRM project. For example, if we fund a for-profit company to run a Phase 1 clinical trial, we expect it to co-fund 30% of the trial cost. If it’s a Phase 3 clinical trial the co-funding amount rises to 50%.  To date we have received $911 million in co-funding.
2. Partnership Funding– Partnership Funding – This is non-CIRM funding committed by partners, not already captured by Co-Funding. For example, our Board’s decision to invest in a project can sometimes be seen as a kind of “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval” because it shows this project has been reviewed by experts and recommended for funding.  Our funding lets investigators do early work and collect data that helps attract funding from outside investors. These funds can be committed or spent at the same time as CIRM funds or to further the project after the CIRM award expires. Since 2004, we have helped generate $528 million in partnership funding.
3. Additional Leverage– This is everything not covered by the first two categories but is mainly non-CIRM funding reported in the “Outcomes Survey”, which the lead investigator on the project completes at the end of the award. This lets us know about any non-CIRM funding they received as a result of their CIRM project (such as money from the National Institutes of Health or other agency grants). More than $395 million in additional leverage funding has been raised because of CIRM.

Awards

	Disease Area	Industry Partner	2017 Funding
1.	Adenosine deaminase-deficient Severe Combined Immunodeficiency	Orchard Therapeutics	$110,000,000
2.	X-Linked Chronic Granulomatous Disease	Orchard Therapeutics	Not disclosed
3.	Acute Myeloid Leukemia	Forty Seven, Inc.	$75,000,000
4.	Pediatrics Genetic Disorder	AVROBIO, Inc.	Not disclosed
5.	HIV/AIDS	CSL Behring	$91,000,000
6.	Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia	Oncternal, Inc.	$18,400,000
7.	Brain Cancer	Mustang Bio, Inc.	$94,500,000
8.	Age-related Macular Degeneration	Santen Pharmaceutical	Not disclosed
	Total		$388,900,000

Our goal is to do everything we can to support the best science and move it out of the lab and into clinical trials. Funding is a key step, but it’s far from the only one. For us, it’s really just the first step.

On Wednesday, we’ll profile one of the CIRM-funded researchers whose work is attracting support from outside investors, a whole new approach to fighting a deadly brain cancer.