A Medical Device Daily

BioTime, (Alameda, California) reported that the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM; San Francisco) has approved a grant to the company of $4.7 million to fund research related to its ACTCellerate embryonic stem cell technology. The overall objective of this grant is to generate tools useful in applying ACTCellerate technology to the manufacture of patient-specific therapeutic products.

BioTime's technologies in regenerative medicine are based on the power of human embryonic stem (hES) cells and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells to become all of the cell types of the human body.

The new grant funds awarded by CIRM will be used by BioTime to "industrialize" the manufacture of the purified cell types for therapeutic applications.

In particular, the aims of the grant are to generate tools useful in implementing ACTCellerate technology in a patient-specific manner, such as from a patient's own cells. Both BioTime and CIRM anticipate that the funded research may accelerate the translation of bench top science to bedside treatments for presently incurable diseases.

In other grants news, InVivo Therapeutics (Cambridge, Massachusetts) reported it has received an award of $500,000 from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (Boston) as part of MLSC's Accelerator Program.

The Accelerator Program, designed to provide support to early-stage life sciences companies that demonstrate a strong potential for commercialization and growth, is one facet of the state's $1 billion Massachusetts Life Sciences Act. InVivo Therapeutics was selected as an award recipient after a competitive application process that included both peer review and a presentation before the MLSC Scientific Advisory Board.

InVivo Therapeutics plans to put the funds toward advancing their technology to market.