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Category Archives: Stem Cell Therapy

Stem Cell Agency Board Sticks with More Financial Disclosure


The governing board of the $3 billion
California stem cell agency today rejected a proposal that would have
restricted transparency surrounding the financial interests of its
directors and top executives.

On a unanimous voice vote, the board
decided it would stick with the more complete disclosure rules that it
has operated under since 2005. CIRM staff had offered changes that would have narrowed the amount of economic
information that the board members and the executives would have been
required to disclose.
The directors' Governance Subcommittee, however, on May 3 rejected the plan. Sherry Lansing, a former
Hollywood film studio CEO and chair of the subcommittee, said at the time,

"I personally feel strongly that
because of CIRM's unique mission and the agency's incredibly
long-standing commitment to transparency, i believe that we should
continue to set an example by requiring the broadest disclosure for
members of the board and high level staff."

Retention of existing disclosure
rules comes at a time when more conflicts may arise. The agency is
moving to engage the biotech industry more closely as it pushes to
develop stem cell therapies. Already one case of conflict has arisen this
year dealing with industry. It involves a "special advisor"
to CIRM who was nominated to become director of a firm sharing in a
$14.5 million grant. She also was working for the firm. (See here and
here.)
The CIRM board also has built-in
conflicts of interest, written into the law by Proposition 71, which
created the agency. About 92 percent of the $1.3 billion awarded so
far has gone to institutions tied to members of the CIRM governing
board. Board members are not permitted, however, to vote on or
discuss grants to their institutions. But it is fair to say that if
California voters had foreseen that nearly all of the grants would
have gone to directors' institutions, they would not have
approved creation of the stem cell agency.
As the California Stem Cell Report remarked earlier, it is a good
move for CIRM to retain more transparency rather than less. As one of
the Moss Adams staffers said today – in a different context –
during the presentation of the first-ever performance audit of CIRM,

"When people have to fill a void
in information, they assume the worst."

Source:
http://californiastemcellreport.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

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California Stem Cell Agency Launches Five-Year Push for Cures


The $3 billion California stem cell
today officially embarked on a course that will mean closer ties to
the biotech industry in hopes of fulfilling the campaign promises to voters to
turn stem cells into cures.

On a unanimous voice vote, directors approved
changes in the seven-year-old agency's strategic plan. The action
will likely mean less money for some activities that enjoyed more cash in the past,  but directors put off action until at least late July.  The plan also sets the course for what may be the last years of life
for the unprecedented state research program. Authorization to borrow
more money (state bonds) for its grants will run out in about 2017.

During a brief discussion of the plan, which has been debated for some months, CIRM Director Jeff Sheehy noted that the agency has now entered "the realm of trade-offs."  Ellen Feigal, CIRM's senior vice president for research and development, told the board that the plan will require hard decisions and sharp focus on priorities. 

Among other things, for first time CIRM overtly set a goal of creating 20 programs that include outside
investment that focus on products. Another five-year goal explicitly calls for financing at least 10 therapies in early-phase
clinical trials, affecting at least five diseases. Overall, the plan seeks to achieve clinical proof-of-concept for stem cell therapies.

In contrast to the Proposition 71
campaign rhetoric, CIRM's strategic plan acknowledges that developing therapies takes a very long time,
often decades.
Two scenarios were presented to the
board for spending the agency's remaining $836 million for grants and
loans. One would allocate $506 million for development research, $195
for translational research and $135 million for basic research, but
nothing for training and "facilities/core resources."
The other scenario calls for $486
million for development research, $160 million for translational
research, $105 for basic research, $60 million for training and $25
million for "facilities/core resources."

The first scenario would mean a $85 million cut in training and shared lab programs – cash that helps to finance researchers and that benefits the many institutions that have representation on the CIRM board.

The board put off action on either scenario after CIRM President Alan Trounson said he wanted more time to prepare a complete analysis of the scenarios. 

The plan also calls for creation of a
platform to enable grantees, disease foundations, venture capitalists
and others to purse CIRM's mission when its state bond funding runs
out. The possibility exists that another bond measure would be submitted to voters. But in either case, CIRM will need a solid record to attract support. 

Source:
http://californiastemcellreport.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

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CIRM Directors Pleased with Performance Audit Findings


The $3 billion California stem cell
agency received a "very favorable" performance audit report
compared to other government agencies, CIRM directors were told
today.

Representatives of Moss Adams, which
was paid $234,944 by CIRM for the study, made the comments during a
presentation today to the agency's 29 directors. During their
comments, CIRM executives and directors focused on the favorable
aspects of the findings of the six-month study.
CIRM Chairman J.T. Thomas said the
report showed that CIRM is "doing better than being on the right
track." Co-vice chairman Art Torres said,

 "Comparatively we
have done very well."

The report praised the professionalism
of the CIRM staff – "a high caliber group" – and noted
the seven-year-old agency is both "ramping up and ramping down"
at the same time – a reference to the end of state bond funding for
CIRM in 2017.
Prior to the presentation, CIRM
President Alan Trounson said the staff would review the findings and
come up with a plan for the board at its July meeting. The agency is
already implementing some of the recommendations.
The audit was required by a recent
state law that also allowed CIRM to hire more than 50 persons, a cap
imposed by Proposition 71, which created the agency. The audit found a need for improvement in 27 areas and made recommendations. Of the 20 recommendations with the highest priority,
half involved how CIRM manages its information, much of which is
needed for good decision-making. The audit did not assess the
scientific performance of the agency.
The Moss Adams report, performed by the
Seattle firm's San Francisco office, said,

"CIRM board members and senior
management do not receive regularly updated, enterprise-level
performance information. The ability to evaluate performance against
strategic goals is critical to effective leadership and program
monitoring, evaluation, and reporting. CIRM does not currently have a
formal performance reporting program."

In addition to decision-making
information, Moss Adams called for improvements in the agency's
long-troubled grants management system, better grant outcome
tracking, development of a results-based communications plan,
creation of a comprehensive, formal business development plan,
formulation of a comprehensive information technology plan that would
include steps to establish clear responsibility for CIRM's website
and improved monitoring of invention disclosure forms from grantee
institutions.
Last week, in a long overdue move, the
agency hired a director for information technology, who is expected
to solve many of the problems cited in the audit.
State law requires another performance audit in a few years. 

Source:
http://californiastemcellreport.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

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Live Coverage of Tomorrow’s California Stem Cell Meeting


The California Stem Cell Report will
provide live coverage of tomorrow's meeting of the governing board of
the $3 billion California stem cell agency. Directors are expected to
make major decisions about the agency's future direction, hear the results
of the first-ever performance audit and award about $95 million in
grants or loans.

The meeting will be held near the San
Francisco airport with another public teleconference location at UC
San Francisco. Los Angeles will also have two public teleconference
locations. Another will be in La Jolla.
The meeting will be audiocast live on
the Internet, which the California Stem Cell Report will monitor from its
base in Panama near the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal.
Instructions for listening in on the
audiocast can be found on the agenda along with specific addresses
for the public teleconference locations. The meeting is scheduled to
begin at 9 a.m. PDT.  

Source:
http://californiastemcellreport.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

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Live Coverage of Tomorrow's California Stem Cell Meeting


The California Stem Cell Report will
provide live coverage of tomorrow's meeting of the governing board of
the $3 billion California stem cell agency. Directors are expected to
make major decisions about the agency's future direction, hear the results
of the first-ever performance audit and award about $95 million in
grants or loans.

The meeting will be held near the San
Francisco airport with another public teleconference location at UC
San Francisco. Los Angeles will also have two public teleconference
locations. Another will be in La Jolla.
The meeting will be audiocast live on
the Internet, which the California Stem Cell Report will monitor from its
base in Panama near the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal.
Instructions for listening in on the
audiocast can be found on the agenda along with specific addresses
for the public teleconference locations. The meeting is scheduled to
begin at 9 a.m. PDT.  

Source:
http://californiastemcellreport.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

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Michael J. Fox Backs Away From Stem Cell Cure for Parkinson’s


It was not exactly a case of "Back
to the Future," the hit movie starring Michael J. Fox,
but it did offer a reflection on the past.

It involves the actor's
changing views on stem cell research in connection with Parkinson's
disease, which he has had since the 1990s.
Fox's 2004 Ad
Early on, Fox was well-known for his
support of human embryonic stem cell research. ABC News
recently described him as having become "one of the country’s
most visible advocates for stem cell research." In California, Fox was a prominent promoter of the ballot initiative, Proposition 71,
that created the $3 billion California stem cell agency in 2004. "
He filmed a TV commercial that was
aired widely during the 2004 campaign to create the stem cell agency,
declaring,

 "It could save the life of someone you love."

Today he is considerably less
confident. In an interview last week with ABC, he cited "problems
along the way." Fox said,

“It’s not so much that [stem cell
research has] diminished in its prospects for breakthroughs as much
as it’s the other avenues of research have grown and multiplied and
become as much or more promising. So, an answer may come from stem
cell research but it’s more than likely to come from another area.”

Source:
http://californiastemcellreport.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

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