This one did not end well. "California’s ambiti
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"California’s ambitious, $18 million effort to develop -- in relatively short order -- a stem cell therapy for a deadly form of skin cancer collapsed abruptly last week, apparently the victim of “excessively long development timelines.”
Caladrius Biosciences, Inc., the recipient of the California funding, terminated the late stage clinical trial, declaring that other treatments have outpaced its approach and that it is no longer “optimally leverage(d).”
The award last May marked a big advance for California’s $3 billion stem cell research program. It was the first phase three clinical trial for the agency, known formally as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine(CIRM). A phase three clinical trial is the last step needed before federal approval for widespread use of a treatment. The award came as the agency is entering what could be the last years of its life and is pushing hard to fulfill the promises of the 2004 ballot initiative campaign that led to its creation.
CIRM, which is based in Oakland, Ca., is scheduled to run out of cash for new awards in 2020. The agency expects to intensify its efforts this year at developing a plan to replace the state bonds that it has used since 2004.
The $18 million award to Caladrius was made last spring with considerable ballyhoo. Jonathan Thomas, chairman of the agency’s governing board, said at the time that the treatment had “the greatest chance of success for the people of California that we have funded.”
http://californiastemcellreport.blogspot.com/...l.html?m=1
Don't ask me how I know , I don't want to talk about it.