AVROBIO

CIRM funded trial may pave way for gene therapy to treat different diseases

/ Yimy Villa / 1 Comment
Image Description: Jordan Janz (left) and Dr. Stephanie Cherqui (right)

According to the  National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD), a disease is consider rare if it affects fewer than 200,000 people. If you combine the over 7,000 known rare diseases, about 30 million people in the U.S. are affected by one of these conditions. A majority of these conditions have no cure or have very few treatment options, but a CIRM funded trial (approximately $12 million) for a rare pediatric disease has showed promising results in one patient using a gene therapy approach. The hope for the field as a whole is that this proof of concept might pave the way to use gene therapy to treat other diseases.

Cystinosis is a rare disease that primarily affects children and young adults, and leads to premature death, usually in early adulthood.  Patients inherit defective copies of a gene that results in abnormal accumulation of cystine (hence the name cystinosis) in all cells of the body.  This buildup of cystine can lead to multi-organ failure, with some of earliest and most pronounced effects on the kidneys, eyes, thyroid, muscle, and pancreas.  Many patients suffer end-stage kidney failure and severe vision defects in childhood, and as they get older, they are at increased risk for heart disease, diabetes, bone defects, and neuromuscular problems.  There is currently a drug treatment for cystinosis, but it only delays the progression of the disease, has severe side effects, and is expensive.

Dr. Stephane Cherqui at UC San Diego (UCSD), in partnership with AVROBIO, is conducting a clinical trial that uses a gene therapy approach to modify a patient’s own blood stem cells with a functional version of the defective gene. The corrected stem cells are then reintroduced into the patient with the hope that they will give rise to blood cells that will reduce cystine buildup in the body.  

22 year old Jordan Janz was born with cystinosis and was taking anywhere from 40 to 60 pills a day as part of his treatment. Unfortunately the medication affected his body odor, leaving him smelling like rotten eggs or stinky cheese. In 2019, Jordan was the first of three patients to participate in Dr. Cherqui’s trial and the results have been remarkable. Tests have shown that the cystine in his eyes, skin and muscle have greatly decreased. Instead of the 40-60 pills a day, he just takes vitamins and specific nutrients his body needs. What’s more is that he no longer has a problem with body odor caused by the pills he once had to take. Although it will take much more time know if Jordan was cured of the disease, he says that he feels “essentially cured”.

In an article from the Associated Press, Jordan is optimistic about his future.

“I have more of a life now. I’m going to school. I’m hoping to open up my own business one day.”

You can learn more about Jordan by watching the video below:

Although gene therapy approaches still need to be closely studied, they have enormous potential for treating patients. CIRM has funded other clinical trials that use gene therapy approaches for different genetic diseases including X-SCID, ADA-SCID, ART-SCID, X-CGD, and sickle cell disease.

CIRM-funded treatment for Cystinosis receives orphan drug designation

/ Yimy Villa / Leave a comment
Dr. Stephanie Cherqui, UC San Diego

Orphan drug designation is a special status given by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for potential treatments of rare diseases that affect fewer than 200,000 in the U.S. This type of status can significantly help advance treatments for rare diseases by providing financial incentives in the form of tax credits towards the cost of clinical trials and prescription drug user fee waivers.

Fortunately for us, a stem cell-gene therapy approach used in a CIRM-funded clinical trial for Cystinosis has just received orphan drug designation. The trial is being conducted by Dr. Stephanie Cherqui at UC San Diego, which is an academic collaborator for AVROBIO, Inc.

Cystinosis is a rare disease that primarily affects children and young adults, and leads to premature death, usually in early adulthood.  Patients inherit defective copies of a gene called CTNS, which results in abnormal accumulation of an amino acid called cystine in all cells of the body.  This buildup of cystine can lead to multi-organ failure, with some of earliest and most pronounced effects on the kidneys, eyes, thyroid, muscle, and pancreas.  Many patients suffer end-stage kidney failure and severe vision defects in childhood, and as they get older, they are at increased risk for heart disease, diabetes, bone defects, and neuromuscular defects. 

Dr. Cherqui’s clinical trial uses a gene therapy approach to modify a patient’s own blood stem cells with a functional version of the defective CTNS gene. The goal of this treatment is to reintroduce the corrected stem cells into the patient to give rise to blood cells that will reduce cystine buildup in affected tissues.  

In an earlier blog, we shared a story by UCSD news that featured Jordan Janz, the first patient to participate in this trial, as well as the challenges promising approaches like this one face in terms of getting financial support. Our hope is that in addition to the funding we have provided, this special designation gives additional support to what appears to be a very promising treatment for a very rare disease.

You can read the official press release from AVROBIO, Inc. related to the orphan drug designation status here.

How CIRM funding creates additional financial support for stem cell research in California

/ Kevin McCormack / 1 Comment

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

Two businessman shaking hands

Partnerships that help advance stem cell research

CIRM funds stem cell research.  We all know that.  What you may not know is that CIRM funds also help bring in additional funding and investments to these projects, and as a result, to the state of California.  CIRM’s investment can also be seen as helping validate the credibility of a particular project, taking some of the risk out 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.

We break that down into three 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 do a Phase 1 clinical trial we expect them to co-fund 30% of the cost of the trial. 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 allows investigators to do the early work and get 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.

In 2017, we saw eight projects that we support attract additional support, almost $390 million, from outside investors.

  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 all we can to support the best science and move it out of the lab and into clinical trials in people. Obviously, providing funding is a key step, but it’s far from the only step. 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, work that is taking a whole new approach to fighting a deadly brain cancer.