Plug Pulled on Cancer Clinical Trial: Sudden End for $18 Million Push by California Stem Cell Agency

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...