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Category Archives: Stem Cells

Skin in California’s Stem Cell Game

The California stem cell agency’s road map to its
financial future makes a big, $200 million assumption.

The amount would be the agency’s skin in the game for a new,
public-private partnership to continue with the agency’s work after 2017, when
its cash basically runs out.

The $200 million figure is contained in the
assumptions for development of the proposed partnership, which is now in the very early stages of being crafted by a Marin County consultant, James Gollub.
He was told that whatever he comes up with can assume a onetime, $50 million to
$200 million public contribution.

The sixty-four-dollar question – to use a term from
the 1940s -- is how to raise that sort of cash. Consider two unappetizing possibilities.
The 29 members of the agency’s governing board could go to Sacramento and ask
lawmakers and the governor to give them the money, a prospect that most of them
would not relish. Such a move would open the door to tinkering or more with the
agency’s structure and operations.  Or
the board could seek more bond financing via a statewide election, requiring an
electoral campaign that would cost many millions to mount. In both cases, there
is no guarantee that funds would be forthcoming. Money is still tight in
California government, and voters may not fancy spending more on stem cell
research, especially if the agency has not delivered on the promises of the
2004 ballot campaign that created the $3 billion program.

A third possibility, however, exists, but it also could
be difficult considering pressures to spend all that the agency has. The
board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), as the agency
is formally known, has about $600 million in uncommitted cash. It could take
$200 million off the table and reserve it as seed money for whatever future
plans would involve. Or the board could simply roll back commitments it has
made for lower priority grant rounds – ones that have not yet been initiated.
Some are in concept stages, and others have not yet been posted as RFAs.

Scrimping on existing efforts is not going to suit
the condition of all board members. The question of priorities on spending came
up last month in connection with the agency’s generous, $69 million researcher
recruitment effort that benefits many institutions represented on the agency’s
board. Jeff Sheehy, who is a patient advocate member of the board but also a
communications manager at UC San Francisco, and others bridled at adding more money to the
recruitment program. Sheehy cited scarcity of funds and said it was a “distraction”
from more important efforts. His view, however, did not prevail.
Today the board is scheduled to act on a grant round that is budgeted for $70 million. However, grant reviewers have approved grants
totaling only $37 million. Board members, if they wish, could indicate that the
surplus $33 million be designated as a down payment on the future of the agency
– an organization in which they take great pride.

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/H4C5-MLOao4/skin-in-californias-stem-cell-game.html

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California Stem Cell Agency's $150,000 Search for Its Financial Future

A San Francisco consultant, who is
often known as an “economic therapist,” has been selected to
devise a “strategic road map” for the financial future of the $3
billion California stem cell agency.
James Gollub: 'economic therapist'
Gollub Associates photo
James Gollub, managing director of the
firm bearing his name, is under a $150,000 contract to lay out by
this fall a detailed plan for the agency. The nine-year-old research
effort is scheduled to run out of money for new awards in 2017.
Gollub was selected after the agency
posted a request for proposals (RFP) last spring. The RFP assumed an
additional $50 million to $200 million in a onetime “public
investment.” The RFP also assumed additional private funding of a
yet-to-be-determined nature.

“A leading expert in innovation
bridge building....
“Global experience assisting
universities, institutes, government agencies and public-private
partnerships link innovation sources to innovation
seekers.
“Committed to the goal of increasing flow of needed
solutions, optimizing financial returns and sustainable economic
impacts from innovation.”

Gollub's current firm dates back to
March of this year. His Linked In profile says,

“James Gollub Associates
(JGA) LLC was launched to build on 36 years of Gollub’s
professional research and consulting experience. That experience
began with 16 years at SRI International, three years at
DRI/McGraw-Hill, five years at IDeA, nine years at ICF International
and three years with E-Cubed Ventures LLC. During that
time Gollub has worked globally to deliver
economic strategies for over 30 national, state and metropolitan
regions, develop strategies to accelerate growth of new industries
(clusters), plan public and private R&D institutes and advise on
over 15 science and technology parks.”

The need for a financial transition plan for CIRM was publicly identified as long ago as 2009 by the Little Hoover Commission in its lengthy study and has been reiterated periodically by other bodies since then. Under the terms of Prop. 71, which created the agency, CIRM has only  a 10-year authority to issue state bonds, the borrowed funds that have sustained the research effort. Legal maneuvering blocked the issuance of bonds until 2007.

The California Stem Cell Report asked
the stem cell agency on May 31 for a copy of Gollub's response to the
RFP. Yesterday we asked for a copy of the contract with Gollub. Those
documents will be published when they are received.
Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/tncFJBJJM5I/california-stem-cell-agencys-150000.html

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California Stem Cell Agency’s $150,000 Search for Its Financial Future

A San Francisco consultant, who is
often known as an “economic therapist,” has been selected to
devise a “strategic road map” for the financial future of the $3
billion California stem cell agency.
James Gollub: 'economic therapist'
Gollub Associates photo
James Gollub, managing director of the
firm bearing his name, is under a $150,000 contract to lay out by
this fall a detailed plan for the agency. The nine-year-old research
effort is scheduled to run out of money for new awards in 2017.
Gollub was selected after the agency
posted a request for proposals (RFP) last spring. The RFP assumed an
additional $50 million to $200 million in a onetime “public
investment.” The RFP also assumed additional private funding of a
yet-to-be-determined nature.

“A leading expert in innovation
bridge building....
“Global experience assisting
universities, institutes, government agencies and public-private
partnerships link innovation sources to innovation
seekers.
“Committed to the goal of increasing flow of needed
solutions, optimizing financial returns and sustainable economic
impacts from innovation.”

Gollub's current firm dates back to
March of this year. His Linked In profile says,

“James Gollub Associates
(JGA) LLC was launched to build on 36 years of Gollub’s
professional research and consulting experience. That experience
began with 16 years at SRI International, three years at
DRI/McGraw-Hill, five years at IDeA, nine years at ICF International
and three years with E-Cubed Ventures LLC. During that
time Gollub has worked globally to deliver
economic strategies for over 30 national, state and metropolitan
regions, develop strategies to accelerate growth of new industries
(clusters), plan public and private R&D institutes and advise on
over 15 science and technology parks.”

The need for a financial transition plan for CIRM was publicly identified as long ago as 2009 by the Little Hoover Commission in its lengthy study and has been reiterated periodically by other bodies since then. Under the terms of Prop. 71, which created the agency, CIRM has only  a 10-year authority to issue state bonds, the borrowed funds that have sustained the research effort. Legal maneuvering blocked the issuance of bonds until 2007.

The California Stem Cell Report asked
the stem cell agency on May 31 for a copy of Gollub's response to the
RFP. Yesterday we asked for a copy of the contract with Gollub. Those
documents will be published when they are received.
Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/tncFJBJJM5I/california-stem-cell-agencys-150000.html

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New Ties to Big Pharma and Venture Capital Proposed at California Stem Cell Agency

The $3 billion California stem cell
agency wants to recruit major biotech and venture capital firms to
help provide tens of millions of dollars in research awards to
California enterprises.
It's part of a move to “jump start”
partnerships in a relatively new, $80 million, business-friendly program that is aimed at pushing therapies into the
marketplace. The recruitment plan will come before the agency's governing board at its meeting next Wednesday in San Diego. 
Participating companies will have a
special relationship with the state agency, including early input
into concept funding proposals prior to their being presented to the
agency's governing board. The “industry collaborators” will also
be able to attend agency workshops and meetings involving
hundreds of grant recipients. Presumably other, non-collaborating
firms would be barred.
Other provisions of the plan call for
special event-hosting arrangements aimed at creating more
collaborations and posting of information from the selected
collaborators on the CIRM website.
According to a CIRM staff document, the
initiative would be limited to biotech and pharmaceutical firms with
a market capitalization of at least $500 million and “qualified
venture capital firms.” The document did not define what a
“qualified a venture capital firm” is. The document also appeared
to bar participation of privately held firms because of the “market
capitalization” criteria, which typically uses a formula involving
publicly traded shares.
Elona Baum, the agency's general
counsel and vice president, business development, said in a statement
provided to the California Stem Cell Report,

“This is aimed at trying to jump
start the creation of the partnerships that are required to satisfy
the commercial validation requirements of the Strategic Partnership
Funding Initiative so that timelines are better synced-up as between
our review and approval cycles for the Strategic Partnership RFAs and
the lengthy time required for investors to conduct due diligence and
negotiate an agreement with prospective applicants to Strategic
Partnership RFAs.  CIRM's independent review and approval
remains the same and is wholly independent. While there may be input
given to a particular RFA it only at the high level concept stage and
of course CIRM has no obligation to agree. In the context of the
Strategic Partnership awards, CIRM wants to fund innovative high
quality science that has attracted additional  investors.
 Investors will help leverage CIRM fund and will be an important
source of future funding to further the project.”  

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/ZtmnBmRh5K0/new-ties-to-big-pharma-and-venture.html

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A $2 Million Bill: Outside Contracting by California Stem Cell Agency

The $3 billion California stem cell
agency this week posted a list of its outside contractors, who range
from a a $25,000 stem cell licensing consultant to a $550,000-a-year law firm.
The agency expects to spend $2
million during 2013-14 on outside contracting, down from $2.9 million
in 2012-13. This week's report covers the 2012-13 year.
Outside contracting is the second
largest item in the agency's budget, which is slated to spend $17.4
million this fiscal year for operational expenses, up 5 percent
from last year's spending. The largest amount, $12.2 million, goes
for salaries and benefits. (For more on the budget, see here, here
and here.)
Topping the contractor list is the law
firm of Remcho, Johansen & Purcell of San Leandro, Ca., which had
the $550,000 contract. CIRM, as the agency is known, reported that Remcho came in under
budget by $95,595. That contrasts to some previous years when the
firm, which has represented the stem cell agency since its inception,
required additional cash on top of its original contract. James
Harrison of the Remcho firm is its face at the agency and is
designated as the outside counsel to the agency's governing board. In
all, the agency is slated to spend $2.2 million on legal expenses,
including in-house work.
David Earp is the stem cell licensing
contractor. He was paid only $13,125 on his $25,000 contract during
2012-13. It is unclear whether he will be paid the $11,875 balance.
Earp was chief patent counsel and senior vice president for business
development for Geron before it dropped its stem cell program. Earp was heavily involved in the $25 million loan that CIRM made to Geron in 2011. In
February 2008, he testified before CIRM about its then proposed loan
program.
The list of contractors included
$200,000 to the AlphaMed Press of Durham, N.C., as seed funding for a
stem cells translational journal, $156,434 to Hyatt Hotels for the
meeting of CIRM grant recipients, $250,000 to Kutir Corp. of Newark, Ca., for
informational technology services and $290,000 to the Mitchell
Group of Woodland Hills, Ca., also for information technology services.
The list of contractors will be
presented to the CIRM governing board at its meeting next week. The
list does not usually trigger any significant discussion.

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/5UwFuEaKpJM/a-2-million-bill-outside-contracting-by.html

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California Stem Cell Agency Spending: Where the Money Is Going

Analysis of CIRM funding by Pat Olson, executive director of CIRM scientific activities July 2013
The California stem cell agency will
have committed $472 million to translational research – a key to
commercializing stem cell therapies – if it awards the full $70
million in new grants and loans slated to come before its governing
board next week.
The nearly $500 million will amount to
about 17 percent of its funding so far, according to an analysis last
month by Pat Olson, the agency's executive director of scientific activities. The
largest percentage of the agency's cash, however, will be going for
“development” – 35 percent or $970 million. Olson defined
“development” as “essentially our IND enabling, our
preclinical development programs and our clinical development
programs.”
Basic research is to receive 17 percent
or about $469 million with buildings and facilities taking up $443
million or 16 percent. Training and career development has consumed
about 15 percent or $414 million.
However, those calculations include
$577 million in funds that have been allocated but not yet awarded.
Another $491 million is “concept approved” but also not awarded.
The agency's governing board could change those allocations or
withdraw approval of concepts, although it has not yet shown signs
that it might do so.
The agency will run out of money for
new grants in 2017 and is examining the possibility of generating
more cash through some sort of public-private partnership. To develop
support for continued funding, the agency is under pressure to
generate results that will resonate with the public and potential
private funding sources. Those results are most likely to come from
a late stage translational/clinical trial effort.
Here is a link to CIRM's translational portfolio as of September 2012.

(An earlier version of this item incorrectly said that the agency would run out of money for new grants in 2013. The correct year is 2017,.)

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/gzZM85Gu0ME/california-stem-cell-agency-spending.html

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