California Institute for Regenerative Medicine
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine sent the following notification to the Sponsored Projects Office.
Notification
From: Jennifer Mielnicki Lewis
Date: Fri, Mar 20, 2020
Subject: CIRM-funded projects & COVID-19
Dear CIRM Awardee,
The health and well-being of the CIRM community is our priority at this time and the CIRM team hopes that you are safe and healthy. The spread of COVID-19 in our country has and will continue to have an impact on CIRM-funded research and clinical trials as projects are suspended, labs are closed, and researchers and staff are being instructed to practice social distancing. Given these unforeseen events, CIRM is understanding that projects will experience delays due to COVID-19.
- For Clinical, Translational and Infrastructure awardees CIRM will not terminate awards for operational milestone delays due to the impact of COVID-19. No formal request to CIRM is required. For those of you who are running clinical trials, the FDA has issued a new guidance document entitled, FDA Guidance on Conduct of Clinical Trials of Medical Products during COVID-19 Pandemic Guidance for Industry, Investigators, and Institutional Review Boards, March 2020 which is linked for your convenience.
- Inception, Quest and other non-milestone research awards will be allowed no-cost extensions beyond the allowable limit in the Notice of Award. For these award types that require a no-cost extension, awardees should submit a Prior Approval request 30 days prior to the original project end date via the CIRM Grants Management System.
As project activities begin to reduce or come to a halt, CIRM expects that awardees will appropriately reduce project expenditures and if required use contingency funding. During this time, a reduction in personnel effort is expected but we hope that you are able to retain the critical expertise on your project teams so that projects can begin work when able. CIRM will waive Principal Investigator and Project Manager effort requirements beginning March 2020 until work can continue. A Prior Approval Request is not required for this change.
CIRM will continue to keep in contact with you thru regular progress and financial reporting and would expect any updates on personnel and project activities during these periods. If you have questions regarding award or financial management, please contact your Grants Management Officer.
Sincerely,
Jennifer
Jennifer Lewis, MPA
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE FOR REGENERATIVE MEDICINE
Director, Grants and Operations
1999 Harrison Street, Suite 1650 | Oakland, CA 94612-3515
Phone: 510-340-9179
jmielnicki@cirm.ca.gov | www.cirm.ca.gov