CIRM Showcases Strategic Vision and New Initiatives at 7th Annual Alpha Clinics Network Symposium

[Link]^{Leveraging CIRM Infrastructure to Improve Accessibility Panel - From left to right: Noah Federman, MD (moderator), Catriona Bota, MD, PhD, Mehrdad Abedi, MD, Daniela Bota, MD, PhD, Thomas Buchanan, MD, Brian Fury, MS, Dhruv Sareen, PhD, and Taby Ahsan, PhD}

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) recently sponsored the 7th Annual CIRM Alpha Clinics Network Symposium in West Hollywood on Oct. 24 and 25, drawing more than 150 attendees, including top leaders from California's premier medical centers, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), patient advocates, and scientists from across the field.

Hosted by Cedars-Sinai, the Symposium's comprehensive agenda included sessions on improving accessibility to clinical trials, innovative approaches to trial design, and the future of cell and gene therapy. The symposium provided a platform to discuss advancements in cell and gene therapy and explore strategies for improving patient access to innovative treatments, as well as how to manufacture them.

[Link]^{From Patients to Policy Improving Accessibility of Therapies and Trials. From left to right: Geoff Lomax, Dr.PH, Zulfikaral Surani, Manar Zaghlula, PhD, Harlan Levine, MD}

The public event underscored CIRM's ongoing commitment to leveraging its infrastructure and partnerships to accelerate the translation of regenerative medicine research into accessible treatments for Californians and patients who need them.

"The Symposium is important to inform patients and the public about how far we have come in being able to treat inherited and acquired diseases with cell and gene therapies," said Geoff Lomax, Associate Director of Patient Access. "It is critical for the Network to engage with Californians, so they continue to trust the important work that is being supported by CIRM."

[Link]^{CIRM's Strategic Vision Q&A with Abla Creasy, PhD and Jonathan "JT" Thomas, PhD, JD}

The symposium featured presentations by CIRM leadership on the newly implemented Strategic Allocation Framework, a structured and data-driven effort designed to prioritize resources and maximize the impact of CIRM's funding. CIRM's President and CEO, Jonathan Thomas, PhD, JD, introduced the framework, which will help guide CIRM's remaining $3.86 billion in funding. Abla Creasey, PhD, CIRM's Executive Strategy Officer for Rare Diseases, outlined the launch of CIRM Rare Disease Therapy Accelerator (CRDA), a new pilot platform program designed to accelerate the development of therapies for patients with rare conditions.

Emphasis on Patient Access Programs & Manufacturing

Patient and advocate voices were also featured throughout the Symposium.

Keynote speaker Lauren Miller Rogen, co-founder of Hilarity for Charity, delivered a compelling address on the importance of access to regenerative medicine therapies and support services for patients and their families.

[Link]^{Alpha Clinics Network Symposium Keynote Speaker, Lauren Miller Rogen}

"As someone who has been through the heartbreaking journey of losing a loved one to an incurable disease, I can tell you that hope is one of the most powerful things we have. The work being done by CIRM and the Alpha Clinics gives people hope-hope that someday, families like mine won't have to face the devastating reality of diseases like Alzheimer's," she said during the keynote.

Her remarks were followed by a panel discussion featuring patient advocates who emphasized the importance of community voices to continue driving progress in regenerative medicine.

[Link]^{Patient and Advocacy Perspectives Panel. Left to right: Kristin Macdonald, Lauren Miller Rogen, Katie Sharify. Not pictured Kim Cade}

The symposium also explored how CIRM Clinical and Manufacturing Infrastructure can drive innovation in clinical trial design as well the FDA perspectives on manufacturing and delivering cell therapies at the "point of care" (e.g. where the patient is being treated). These innovative ways of delivering cell and gene therapies also hold the potential to reduce the cost of treatments because each of the Alpha Clinics sites are also home to Manufacturing Infrastructure.

For example, Directors of several Alpha Clinics moderated panel discussions, including Daniela A. Bota, MD, PhD, director of the UC Irvine Alpha Clinic, who spoke about chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) therapies. UC Davis Alpha Clinic leaders highlighted their role in developing an FDA endorsed process for providing these therapies at reduced cost, and Mark Walters, MD, UC San Francisco Alpha Clinic director, expanded the discussion to current gene therapies, future opportunities, and barriers to treatment.

A Showcase of Alpha Clinics Advancements

Every year, the CIRM-funded Alpha Clinics host a symposium to bring together experts from leading California medical centers. The network excels by rapidly advancing treatments through strong partnerships with patients, healthcare providers, and clinical trial sponsors.

CIRM made an initial investment of $24 million to establish the Alpha Clinics Network in 2015. This network was created to accelerate the development and delivery of cell and gene therapies by funding clinical trials and supporting the infrastructure needed to conduct them.

[Link]^{Geoff Lomax, Dr.PH introducing Harlan Levine, MD, for the Financing Regenerative Medicine: Challenges & Potential Solutions discussion}

Originally launched with five centers, the program's remarkable progress has flourished into an $80 million initiative, supporting over 250 clinical trials and enrolling over 2,000 clinical trial participants. Its success in delivering clinical trials led to an expansion to nine sites in 2022.

"We have nine of the leading medical centers in the world in California-that's a remarkable capacity," added Lomax. "And in a state like California with a huge population, we need those centers to really be able to serve the population effectively."

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