The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine approved a $100 million RAPID initiative to accelerate platform‑based in vivo gene therapies for rare diseases. The program funds scalable approaches rather than one‑disease, one‑therapy projects, and will prioritize platforms that have engaged with the FDA and received pre‑IND feedback. CIRM intends the RAPID awards to cover IND‑enabling work through first‑in‑human trials across multiple indications and modalities. The initiative builds on momentum from recent personalized gene‑editing successes and FDA encouragement for platform strategies. The funding aims to reduce time and cost barriers for developing treatments across many rare disorders and to encourage standardized tools that can be reused across indications.