Thursday, November 02, 2017

CEO Millan on the Prospects for California's $3 Billion Stem Cell Research Effort

Maria Millan, the president of the $3 billion California stem cell agency, this week discussed the future of the nearly 13-year-old effort, which expects to run out of cash for new awards in 2020.

Her remarks are contained in a Q&A interview on RegMedNet, "a networking site that unites all members of the diverse regenerative medicine community," according to a statement on the site.  

The piece contains no big surprises but is worth examining if you want to get a sense of her background and where she is headed. Here are two excerpts.
Question: "What will happen once CIRM has given out all $3 billion allocated to it by Proposition 71?"
Answer: "We are working with our board to pursue sustainability options to ensure that the products of the Proposition 71 investment have the best chance of reaching the patients.  CIRM has played an essential role in growing the stem cell/regenerative medicine field by bringing in the critical mass of resources, top notch researchers, rigorous basic and translational research and building the most robust late development and clinical stage portfolio to accelerate novel treatments to patients with unmet medical needs. With the CIRM 2.0 processes that drove operational excellence and acceleration, there is incredible potential to build upon the recent early successes that led to projects that are nearing FDA marketing approval and to drive more of these successes to the benefit of healthcare and patients."

Question: "What are your plans for CIRM over the next few years?" 
Answer: "We are fully committed and motivated to executing on the 5 year strategic plan that we launched in January 2016. When we proposed these strategic goals, they were 'stretch' goals and now it looks like we will achieve these goals. This strategic plan is driven by our mission 'to accelerate stem cell treatments to patients with unmet medical needs.'"

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