blood plasma

Four teaspoons could save a life

/ Kevin McCormack / 2 Comments

Sometimes it’s the smallest things that make the biggest difference. In the case of a clinical trial that CIRM is funding, all it takes to be part of it is four teaspoons of blood.

The clinical trial is being run by Dr. John Zaia and his team at the City of Hope in Duarte, near Los Angeles, in partnership with tgen and the CIRM Alpha Stem Cell Clinic Network. They are going to use blood plasma from people who have recovered from COVID-19 to treat people newly infected with the virus. The hope is that antibodies in the plasma, which can help fight infections, will reduce the severity or length of infection in others.

Dr. John Zaia. Photo courtesy City of Hope

People who have had the virus and are interested in taking part are asked to give four teaspoons of blood, to see if they have enough antibodies. If they do they can then either donate plasma – to help newly infected people – or blood to help with research into COVID-19.

As a sign of how quickly Dr. Zaia and his team are working, while we only approved the award in late April, they already have their website up and running, promoting the trial and trying to recruit both recovered COVID-19 survivors and current patients.

The site does a great job of explaining what they are trying to do and why people should take part. Here’s one section from the site.

Why should I participate in your study?

By participating in our study, you will learn whether you have developed antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19. To do so, you just need to donate a small sample of blood (approximately 4 teaspoons).

If testing show you have enough antibodies, you will have the option of donating plasma that will be used to treat severely ill COVID-19 patients and may help save lives.

If you don’t want to donate plasma, you can still donate blood (approximately 3.5 tablespoons), which will be studied and help researchers learn more about COVID-19.

By donating blood or plasma, you will help us gain information that may be of significant value for patient management in future epidemic seasons.

You don’t even have to live close to one of the clinical trial sites because the team can send you a blood collection kit and information about a blood lab near you so you can donate there. They may even send a nurse to collect your blood.

The team is also trying to ensure they reach communities that are often overlooked in clinical trials. That’s why the website is also in Spanish and Vietnamese.

Finally, the site is also being used to help recruit treating physicians who can collect the blood samples and help infuse newly infected patients.

We often read about clinical trials in newspapers and online. Now you get a chance to not only see one working in real time, you can get to be part of it.

CIRM Board Funds its First Clinical Study for COVID-19

/ Yimy Villa / 1 Comment
Dr. John Zaia, City of hope

Today the governing Board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) continued its commitment to help with the coronavirus pandemic by awarding $749,999 to Dr. John Zaia at City of Hope.  He will be conducting a clinical study to administer blood plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients to treat those with the virus.  This marks CIRM’s first clinical study for COVID-19 after approving emergency funding a month earlier.

Plasma is a component of blood that carries proteins called antibodies that are usually involved in defending our bodies against viral infections.  Blood plasma from patients that have recovered from COVID-19, referred to as convalescent plasma, contain antibodies against the virus that can be used as a potential treatment for COVID-19.  Currently, there are challenges with this approach that include: properly identifying convalescent plasma donors i.e. recovered patients, determining eligibility of those with convalescent plasma that want to donate, collection of the plasma, treating patients, and determining if the plasma was effective.

Dr. Zaia and his team at City of Hope will create the COVID-19 Coordination Program, which addresses solutions for all of the challenges listed above. The program will partner with the medical teams at CIRM’s Alpha Stem Cell Clinic Network, as well as infectious disease, pulmonary and critical care teams from medical centers and community hospitals across the state.  Potential donors will be identified and thoroughly screened for eligibility per the established National and State blood banking safety requirements. Finally, the convalescent plasma will be collected from eligible donors and administered by licensed physicians to COVID-19 patients, who will be evaluated for response to the treatment and potential recovery.

“We are in the midst of very challenging times where there is not yet an approved treatment for COVID-19. In response to this, CIRM launched and executed an emergency COVID-19 funding program, which was made possible by our Board, patient advocates, California scientists, external scientific expert reviewers, and our dedicated team,” said Maria T. Millan, MD, President and CEO of CIRM. “With CIRM funding, the City of Hope COVID-19 Coordination program will tap into CIRM’s network of researchers, physicians, and our Alpha Clinics to deliver this treatment to patients in need.  It will also serve the critical role of gathering important scientific data about the plasma, safety, and clinical data from treated patients.”

The Board also approved a discovery stage research project that utilizes stem cell models for a novel approach to vaccine development against the virus causing COVID-19 and another project that uses a unique lung stem cell organoid to identify an effective drug against the virus.

The two awards are summarized in the table below:

CIRM Board Expands COVID-19 Efforts

/ Yimy Villa / Leave a comment
Coronavirus particles, illustration. Courtesy KTSDesign/Science Photo Library

This past Friday, the governing Board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) expanded the eligibility criteria for COVID-19 related projects to develop new treatments against the virus.  Just two weeks ago, the Board approved $5 million in emergency funding for COVID-19 research.

One major addition is allowing research related to convalescent plasma to be eligible for CIRM COVID-19 emergency funding.  Plasma is a component of blood that carries cells and antibodies.  Blood plasma from patients that have recovered from COVID-19, referred to as convalescent plasma, contains antibodies against the virus and could be used as a potential treatment for COVID-19 patients.

In addition to this, potential clinical studies of convalescent plasma are now approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) single-patient emergency Investigational New Drug (eIND) pathway as opposed to only a traditional IND.  Before treatments can be tested in humans, a traditional IND needs to be filed.  In an emergency situation such as the coronavirus pandemic, an eIND can be filed to begin testing the treatment faster.

In order to address the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on underserved communities, priority will be given to projects that directly address these disparities. 

Lastly, potential clinical programs for COVID-19 are now approved to start incurring allowable project costs, at risk, from the date of the application submission deadline.  This would give researchers the opportunity to start their projects earlier and cover project costs retroactively if they are approved for funding.

“The intent behind this amendment is to be responsive to this COVID-19 crisis by leveraging CIRM’s funding programs, processes, and infrastructure within the scientific ecosystem that it has supported to date,” said Maria T. Millan, M.D., President and CEO of CIRM. “By providing an opportunity for the medical and scientific community to gather important data while using convalescent plasma treatment protocols on an emergency basis, CIRM is joining the global effort to expedite treatments to patients in need in the midst of this global pandemic.”

CIRM has established an open call for proposals and will accept applications on a bi-monthly basis.

Please refer to the following Program Announcement for more details:

·      Special Call for COVID-19 Projects

To Submit an Application:

  1. Go to the Grants Management Portal (https://grants.cirm.ca.gov) and log in with your existing CIRM Username and Password. If you do not have a Username, Click on the “New User” link and follow the instructions to create a CIRM Username and password.
  2. After logging in, click on the Menu tab. Select the tab labeled “Open Programs“. Under the section labeled “RFAs and Programs Open for Applications“, click on the “Start a Grant Application” link for your selected program.
  3. Complete each section of the Application by clicking on the appropriate link and following the posted instructions. Proposal templates can be located and submitted under the “Uploads” section.
  4. To submit your Application, click on the “Done with Application” button. The “Done with Application” button will be enabled when all of the mandatory sections have been completed. Please note that once this has been selected, you will no longer be able to make changes to your Application.
  5. To confirm submission of your Application, select the tab labeled “Your Applications” and check the table under the section labeled “Your Submitted Applications“. You will see your Application number and project title listed once the submission process has been completed.