Siren wins $8M state grant to test brain cancer gene therapy
What's the deal? Siren Biotechnology has won an $8M non-dilutive grant from the California Institute for Regenerative MedicineDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → (CIRM) to fund clinical development of SRN-101, its lead gene therapy for high-grade glioma brain cancers.
The San Francisco startup will use the CLIN2 award to run a Phase 1/2 trial in adults with recurrent high-grade glioma.
Why now? The grant follows the Food and Drug Administration's clearance of Siren's first Investigational New Drug application earlier this year, which moved the company to clinical stage.
CIRM previously backed the program with a $4M translational grant, so this award extends that support into the clinic.
SRN-101 has also earned Fast Track, Orphan Drug, and Rare Pediatric Disease designations from the FDA.
What could go wrong? High-grade gliomas, including glioblastoma, are among the most aggressive and lethal brain tumors.
Current treatments — surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy — offer limited benefit, and early-stage trials carry high failure risk.
SRN-101 is still investigational, with efficacy and safety yet to be proven in patients.
The signal: Non-dilutive grants are a growing lifeline for biotech startups tackling hard diseases without giving up equity, and CIRM's $8.5 billion mandate — allocated through California's Proposition 71 in 2004 and Proposition 14 in 2020 — signals sustained public appetite to fund gene therapy from lab bench to clinic. For a breakout-stage company like Siren, the agency's willingness to back SRN-101 from a $4M translational grant through to this $8M clinical award marks a vote of confidence in its Universal AAV Immuno-Gene Therapy platform.
Read more: Associated Press
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
