Search Immortality Topics:

Page 20«..10..19202122..3040..»


Category Archives: Stem Cells

StemCells, Inc., Rejects $20 Million from California Stem Cell Agency

When does a financially struggling
biotech company turn down a $20 million “forgivable loan?”

When it is StemCells, Inc., of Newark,
Ca., and the cash is being offered by the $3 billion California stem
cell agency. The research program has handed out nearly 600 awards, and it is the first time that a recipient has rejected funding.
That's the latest development in a stem
cell saga that began publicly last July and that involved unusual personal lobbying by the former chairman of the Golden State's stem cell research agency. The high point of the saga may have come in
September when the agency's governing board finished awarding
StemCells, Inc., $40 million in two different awards. But there was a
catch. StemCells Inc., had to match that figure with $40 million of
its own.
Late last month, StemCells, Inc., threw
in the towel on the $20 million awarded on its cervical spinal cord
injury application. In comments to analysts March 21, Rodney Young,
chief financial officer of the publicly traded company, said:

“The funding would have been in the
form of a forgivable loan, however, we have elected not to borrow
these funds from CIRM(the stem cell agency).”

According to the Seeking Alpha transcript of the conference call with analysts, Young said,

“You may also recall that last
September, CIRM approved a separate application under the same
disease team program for Alzheimer's disease, which was also for up
to $20 million in the form of a loan. We remain in confidential
negotiations with CIRM regarding the terms and conditions that would
attach to this loan.”

The company provided no explanation for
rejecting the cash, either in the conference call transcript or in
its press release.
During the conference call, StemCells,
Inc., reported continuing losses. For 2012, net losses totaled $28.5
million compared to $21.3 million in 2011. Revenue for 2012 was $1.4
million compared to $1.2 million in the previous year.
The awards last year to StemCells,
Inc., founded by Stanford's eminent researcher Irv Weissman, stirred
up a bit of a ruckus. The spinal injury award was handed out
routinely in July. Scientific reviewers gave it a score of 79 and
recommended funding. It was another matter on the Alzheimer's
application. It was scored at 61. Reviewers said it did not merit
funding. But the company publicly appealed to the full board, which sent the
application back for more examination. It was rejected again.
Nonetheless, in September, the 29-member board approved the award on
a 7-5 vote, bypassing a rival Alzheimer's application scored at 63.
It was the first time in the eight-year-history of the agency that
its board approved an application that was rejected twice by
reviewers.
Approval came only after strong
lobbying by Robert Klein, former chairman of the board. Klein was
also chairman of the ballot campaign that created the agency, and
Weissman, who holds stock in StemCells, Inc., and sits on its board,
was a major fundraiser for the campaign. 
The Los Angeles Times' Pulitzer
Prize-winning columnist, Michael Hiltzik, wrote in October that
 the process was “redolent of cronyism.” He said a
“charmed relationship” existed among StemCells, Inc., its
“powerful friends” and the stem cell agency.
As for the remaining $20 million award,
Martin McGlynn, CEO of StemCells, Inc., expects “quick” action on
finally securing the cash.
Here is an exchange that came during
the March conference call between McGlynn and analyst Kaey Nakae of
Ascendiant Capital Markets.

Nakae: “Okay. Just 2 more questions.
I guess the first one, as it relates to CIRM.
In deciding to decline the funding for spinal cord yet continuing to
pursue the funding for Alzheimer's, is there a difference in what
you're getting from them in terms of potential terms and conditions
that allow you to proceed on one and not the other, or is it the fact
that you're already in human with -- in spine, and still very
preclinical with Alzheimer's?”

McGlynn: :”I think you're very
definitely -- you're getting at some important criteria when one
considers how to fund programs whether you use debt or equity,
etcetera. So I wouldn't disagree with anything that you've outlined
or surmised. But I just would pray your indulgence until we're
finished, the negotiations with CIRM, which are coming to a close and
we expect those to resolve pretty quickly with regards to the
Alzheimer's program. And then quite frankly, we can be way more
forthcoming and way more disclosive with regards not only to our
decisions, but to our thinking.”

StemCells, Inc., was trading at about $1.65 at the time of this writing, down slightly from the previous
day. Its 52-week high is $2.67 and its 52-week low $0.59.

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/zYvykN1XE6k/stemcells-inc-rejects-20-million-from.html

Posted in Stem Cell Therapy, Stem Cells | Comments Off on StemCells, Inc., Rejects $20 Million from California Stem Cell Agency

More about Funding for Personalized Medicine Research

A post entitled Funding for Personalized Medicine Research, dated January 31, 2012, provided information about the participation of the Cancer Stem Cell Consortium (CSCC) in the Large-Scale Applied Research Project Competition of Genome Canada, in collaboration with the first phase of the Personalized Medicine Signature Initiative of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

On March 26, 2013, it was announced that 17 projects will be supported. A list of these project is available (PDF). One of the 17 projects is entitled "Innovative chemogenomic tools to improve outcome in acute myeloid leukemia". The Project leader is Guy Sauvageau of the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) at the Université de Montréal. The Project co-leader is Josée Hébert of the Centre de Recherche Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont, Montréal. One of the aims of this project is to develop new models for tracking cancer stem cells that are left behind after a patient is treated.

Source:
http://cancerstemcellnews.blogspot.com/2013/03/more-about-funding-for-personalized.html

Posted in Stem Cell Therapy, Stem Cells | Comments Off on More about Funding for Personalized Medicine Research

Cyberspace Makeover at California Stem Cell Agency

California's $3 billion stem cell
agency has performed a well-done makeover on its most important
public face – its web site, which is chock-a-block full of useful
information for researchers and the unwashed alike.

At cirm.ca.gov, one can find the very
words of its directors as they wrestle with everything from grant
approvals to conflicts of interest. Scientists can be seen telling
the story of their accomplishments. Money can be followed, and
summaries of reviews of grant applications read, both those approved
and those that did not pass muster.
The web site of the California
Institute of Regenerative Medicine (the formal name of the agency) is the place where the stem cell program
really meets the public. News stories are important, but infrequent.
Day to day, however, thousands of interested persons seek out
information that the folks at CIRM HQ, just a long throw from the San
Francisco Giants ballpark, bring to cyberspace.
Each month, said Amy Adams, major domo
of the web site, 15,000 to 17,000 “unique viewers”
visit online. She told the California Stem Cell
Report in an email,

“We're up about 25 percent year over
year in unique viewers to the site. A lot of that growth comes from
search, and the rest is from traffic driven through our blog and
Facebook.” 

The numbers are not huge compared to
those chalked up by major media sites. But they are significant
given that there are only a few thousand people worldwide who are
deeply and regularly interested in stem cell research. Many more,
however, are stimulated to look into the subject from time to time,
either because of news stories, personal, disease-related concerns or simple interest in cutting edge science. Engaging those
readers, who can spread the CIRM story, and winning their approval is
critical for the agency as it faces the need to raise more millions
as it money runs out in the next few years.
CIRM has mounted much information online over
its short life. So much that good tools are needed to navigate the
site. Decisions about what should go on the home page are critical.
With the makeover, the agency now has a long-needed, home-page link to its
meetings , especially those of its governing board, which are the
single most important events at the agency.
The redesign is crisp and clean. The
new, white background makes it easier to read and is comfortable for
readers long conditioned to the black-on-white print of the books,
newspapers and magazines. The video image on the home page is larger,
which helps attract viewers. The site has long had a carload of
videos, some of which contain powerful and emotional stories from
patients.
Adams used CIRM staffers to test the
new features. She reported,

“I've had people inside CIRM (who
have been beta testing this site) tell me that they are finding
content they'd never seen before because the site is so much easier
to navigate.”

Adams and the CIRM communications team
also have pulled together important information on each grant on a
single page, including progress reports. You can find a sample here on a $1 million grant to Stanford's Helen Blau.
Adams said,

 “Now people can not only
read about what our grantees are hoping to accomplish, they can read
about what has actually been accomplished with our funding.”

Adams said another new feature is
downloadable spread sheets of information that can be manipulated by
readers offline. She said,

“Most places on the site where you
see tables, you can now download those tables to Excel. You'll notice
the small Excel icon at the lower left of the table. This feature has
long been available for the searchable grants table. Now you'll see
it on all the tables of review reports (see here for
example http://www.cirm.ca.gov/application-reviews/10877)
on the disease fact sheets (see
here http://www.cirm.ca.gov/about-stem-cells/alzheimers-disease-fact-sheet)
and other places throughout the site. This is part of an effort to
make our funding records more publicly available.”

CIRM's search engine for its web site
still needs work. A search using the term “CIRM budget 2012-2013”
did not produce a budget document on the first two pages of the
search results. A search on the term “Proposition 71,” the ballot
initiative that created CIRM, did not provide a direct link to its
text on the first two pages of search results.
Also missing from the web site, as far
as I can tell, is a list of the persons who appointed the past and
present board members as well as the dates of the board members'
terms of office. The biographies on some of the 29 governing board
members come up short. In the case of Susan Bryant, her bio does not
mention that she is interim executive vice chancellor and provost at
UC Irvine. Links also could be added to board members statements of economic interest. A list of CIRM staff members (only slightly more than 50
persons) and their titles could be added.
As for CIRM's count of visitors, CIRM
uses Google Analytics tools. Adams said,

“A unique visitor is Google's
definition (it's one of the metrics they provide). It's a visit from
a unique IP (internet protocol) address. So, if you visit our site
multiple times from one IP address during a day, you count as a
single unique visitor. (Editor's note: It is possible to have
more than one visitor from the same IP address.)

“We get ~23,000-25,000 visits per
month, or ~16,000-18,000 unique visitors. Page views are on the order
of 65,000 a month.”

Our take: The redesign of the web site
is a worthy effort and enhances CIRM's relationships with all those
who come looking for information. The agency is to be commended and
should continue its work to improve the site and its connections with
the public.

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/1OuvEMC2aTs/cyberspace-makeover-at-california-stem.html

Posted in Stem Cell Therapy, Stem Cells | Comments Off on Cyberspace Makeover at California Stem Cell Agency

California Stem Cell Directors to Finalize IOM Response Next Week

Directors of the California stem cell
agency will meet March 19 in Burlingame to complete action on
their response to blue-ribbon recommendations for sweeping changes at
the eight-year-old research enterprise.

CIRM Chairman J.T. Thomas last week
told the San Diego U-T editorial board that he regarded approval as
“largely ministerial.”
Thomas has been visiting newspaper
editorial boards around the state, touting his plan, which was
initially approved by the board in January. The main focus has been
on its provisions dealing with conflicts of interest, which would
have 13 of the 29 governing board members voluntarily remove themselves from
voting on any grant applications. The 13 are linked to recipient
institutions. Two other board members linked to recipient
institutions also sit on the board.
About 90 percent of the $1.8 billion
that has been awarded by the CIRM board has gone to institutions
linked to past and present members of the board.
In December, the Institute of Medicine cited major
problems with conflicts at the stem cell agency. It recommended
creation of a new, independent majority on the board, which would
mean that some members would lose their seats. The IOM report also
recommended a host of additional changes that have become eclipsed by
the controversy about conflicts, which were built into the board by
Proposition 71, the ballot measure that created it in 2004.
An analysis in January by the
California Stem Cell Report of the IOM report, which CIRM
commissioned at a cost of $700,000, showed that agency's response fell far short of what the IOM proposed to improve the agency's
performance.
Also on the agenda for the March 19 is
approval of applications in a $30 million effort by the agency
involving reprogrammed adult stem cells. The agency said the goal of
the initiative is “to generate and ensure the availability of high
quality disease-specific hiPSC resources for disease modeling, target
discovery and drug discovery and development for prevalent,
genetically complex diseases.”  

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/FH7dzoNWS8c/california-stem-cell-directors-to.html

Posted in Stem Cell Therapy, Stem Cells | Comments Off on California Stem Cell Directors to Finalize IOM Response Next Week

San Diego Newspaper Hails Stem Cell Agency and IOM Response

The $3 billion California stem cell
agency hit it big in San Diego today, finally scoring an editorial
that said “arguably” the agency's largess has made the state “the
world leader in medical research.”

The San Diego U-T, the largest
circulation newspaper in the area, said the big headline about the
eight-year-old agency is “the potential for transformative medical
breakthroughs.”
The editorial noted that the agency has
long been criticized in connection with conflicts of interest. About
90 percent of the $1.8 billion the agency has awarded has gone to
institutions linked to current and past members of its board of
directors.
But the agency “is finally taking the
criticism seriously,” the newspaper said. It cited proposals that
would, if approved later this month, have 13 members of the agency's
governing board voluntarily abstain from voting on any grants that come before
the board. Twenty-nine persons sit on the board. The thirteen are
connected to recipient institutions. Two other board members are
linked to recipient institutions.
The stem cell business is no small
matter in San Diego, which is one of California's hotbeds of biotech
and stem cell research. The stem cell agency has awarded about $338
million to San Diego area institutions and businesses. Four
executives from San Diego area institutions sit on the CIRM board.
The newspaper's editorial said,

“There
remains a residue of cynicism about CIRM. Critics say the agency
board did the minimum necessary to avoid an intervention by the
Legislature – and also acted to buff the agency’s image should it
seek more bond funding from California voters before its present
funding runs out in 2017, as is now projected.

“These views
may have some merit. But on balance, we think the California
Institute for Regenerative Medicine has – at long last –
responded properly to the fair criticism it faced. Instead of being
exasperated by CIRM, more people should be excited about the great
work it is doing.”

The editorial followed a meeting
involving the editorial board of the newspaper, CIRM Chairman
Jonathan Thomas and Larry Godlstein, director of the UC San Diego stem
cell program. The meeting was part of a CIRM campaign to generate
newspaper support for the agency's response to sweeping recommendations from a blue-ribbon study by the Institute of Medicine. The San Diego editorial is the most effusive so far.
The newspaper's biotech reporter,
Bradley Fikes, sat in on the meeting and Saturday posted video excerpts from the discussion, including a brief written summary of the content of each clip.

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/WHLDfisWzQI/san-diego-newspaper-hails-stem-cell.html

Posted in Stem Cell Therapy, Stem Cells | Comments Off on San Diego Newspaper Hails Stem Cell Agency and IOM Response

Public Banned from ‘Best Stem Cell Meeting in the World’

“The best stem cell meeting in the
world” is underway today in San Francisco – conducted at taxpayer
expense – but the public is barred from attending.

More than 500 persons are at the meeting at an undisclosed location, including some
representatives of biotech firms. And the meeting is even being
written about on the internet by a blogger. But the $3 billion
California stem cell agency says the public is not allowed in because
some of the information is “proprietary.”
CIRM President Alan Trounson addressed
the meeting earlier this week and declared it was “the best stem
cell meeting in the world,” according to UC Davis researcher Paul
Knoepfler, who is reporting from the session on his blog.
The attendees consist almost entirely
of the recipients of taxpayer-funded grants given by the stem cell agency  although a number of
businesses have been brought in.. CIRM, which is paying for the gathering,  says of the annual sessions,

 “The purpose of meeting is to bring together investigators funded
by CIRM, to highlight their research, and encourage scientific
exchange and collaboration.”

Kevin McCormack, spokesman for the
agency, today said the public was barred from the meeting, which ends tomorrow, because “so
many presentations/talks (are) using proprietary information.”
That rationale is nothing new in the
world of science. But there is no chance of maintaining secrecy about anything that is
truly proprietary when hundreds of people have access to it in
this sort of forum. No penalties exist for disclosure, plus the whole
point of the session is to share information.
Yesterday we wrote briefly about the importance of transparency and openness in government, and make no mistake about
it, the stem cell agency is a government operation. We doubt that
anything egregious is underway at the session, but closing it to the
public is a reminder about where the agency's priorities lie.  

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/uiwodYaNIP8/public-banned-from-best-stem-cell.html

Posted in Stem Cell Therapy, Stem Cells | Comments Off on Public Banned from ‘Best Stem Cell Meeting in the World’