Search Immortality Topics:

Page 24«..1020..23242526..3040..»


Category Archives: Stem Cells

Debunking California Stem Cell Agency Claims of 'No Actual Conflicts'

Posted in Stem Cell Therapy, Stem Cells | Comments Off on Debunking California Stem Cell Agency Claims of 'No Actual Conflicts'

Sacramento Bee: Stem Cell Agency Falling Short on IOM Recommendations

It's exceedingly rare when the
California stem cell agency makes the front page of any newspaper.

So it is worthy of note that The
Sacramento Bee this morning carried a lengthy piece on its page one
about the agency and its response to the blue-ribbon Institute of
Medicine (IOM) report.
The headline said,

 “Analyst: Stem
cell agency reforms fall short.”

The analyst is the Institute of
Medicine, more specifically Harold Shapiro, chairman of the panel that
studied California's $3 billion research effort for 17 months at
a cost of $700,000 to the agency.
Bee reporter Cynthia Craft wrote that
Shapiro said the stem cell agency is “falling short” in its
response to the IOM recommendation.
Craft wrote,

"'There certainly is a gap between
what we recommended and what they responded with,' said Shapiro,
president emeritus at Princeton
University. ' I wish they had moved closer to our
recommendations.'"

Craft said the IOM made sweeping recommendations “emphasizing the need for new blood on a governing
board that has been plagued by the appearance of conflicts of
interest, cronyism and sluggishness in getting stem-cell products to
market.”
Craft also interviewed Jonathan
Thomas, chairman of the stem cell agency, who said some of the IOM
recommendations would take legislative action. But Thomas said that
was “out of the question.”
Craft wrote,

“The process would take years, he
said. The first opportunity to get on the ballot, for instance, would
be in the fall of 2014.”

The agency will run out of cash for new
grants in less than four years.
Craft's story was the first major news
article in years about the agency in the Bee, the only daily
newspaper in the state's capital. She reviewed a bit of the history
of the agency and concerns about conflicts of interest. She
concluded,

“Shapiro said he stands firmly behind
his committee's report. 

"'I think our recommendations sit
together and interrelate to each other well – and should have been
moved along as quickly as possible,' Shapiro said. 

"'It might have been helpful if
they indicated to us what they were willing to do and what they
weren't,' he said."

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/tEEJz8_Jcds/sacramento-bee-stem-cell-agency-falling.html

Posted in Stem Cell Therapy, Stem Cells | Comments Off on Sacramento Bee: Stem Cell Agency Falling Short on IOM Recommendations

Hyping the Economic Impact of the California Stem Cell Agency

The $3 billion California stem cell agency today served up a warmed-over version of a study that would have the
public believe that the research program has had a major economic
impact on the state.

The latest study was prepared last
August by a firm that was hired under an RFP in 2010 that said it must execute "a vibrant and aggressive strategy to support the goals and initiatives of CIRM.” 
The agency paid $300,000 for the
original study but contends the report is “independent” of CIRM.
According to the CIRM press release
today, the latest version of the study by Jose Alberro of the
Berkeley Research Group claims creation of 38,000 “job years” and
$286 million in “new tax revenue” from the award of $1.5 billion. Those awards actually cost something in the neighborhood of $3 billion, given that state taxpayers must pay interest the borrowed funds that finance the agency. 
The Institute of Medicine's recent
blue-ribbon report on the stem cell agency carried remarkably different
information than the economic figures reported today. The institute's study was also financed by CIRM but at a cost of
$700,000. The report said,

“In the short term, CIRM’s
expenditures are supporting approximately 3,400 jobs and their
innovative efforts have also attracted substantial additional private
and institutional resources to this research arena in California
CIRM’s long-term impact on such critical aspects of the California
economy as state tax revenues and health care costs beyond the
shorter-term and temporary impact of its direct expenditures cannot
be reliably estimated at this point in CIRM’s history."

Here is what the California Stem Cell Report wrote in 2011 when the first study was released:

“No doubt exists that the stem cell
spending has had a beneficial economic impact. But whether it has had
a 'significant' impact on the California economy is in the eye of the
beholder. The state's economy runs to something like $1.7 trillion a
year. If California were a nation, it would rank among one of the
larger economies in the world. The workforce totals around 18
million, making 25,000 jobs statistically less than a hiccup. Keep in
mind as well that CIRM, until 2009,  paid the interest on its
borrowing with more borrowed funds, all of which adds to the total
cost of the borrowing, which is about $3 billion on top of the $3
billion CIRM is handing out.”

By ballyhooing economic impact reports
the stem cell agency would seem to be inviting assessment of its
efforts as an industrial development enterprise, which involve
criteria significantly different than that of a research enterprise.
A few years ago, we asked the agency's then Chairman Robert Klein
whether he wanted to have CIRM assessed as industrial development
effort. His quick response was a very emphatic no. Klein nonetheless
frequently touted the figures produced under the contract with the
agency.
The latest figures are undoubtedly
likely to be cited as the agency begins a road trip around the state
to meet with newspaper editorial boards to trumpet CIRM's reponse to
the Institute of Medicine study.
See below for a full copy of the
report. We have asked CIRM for a copy of the contract with the group
that prepared it. We will carry it when we receive it.
   

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/l9y8li36Cn8/hyping-economic-impact-of-california.html

Posted in Stem Cell Therapy, Stem Cells | Comments Off on Hyping the Economic Impact of the California Stem Cell Agency

Stem Cell Agency Plan Falls Far Short of Solving IOM Concerns

Posted in Stem Cell Therapy, Stem Cells | Comments Off on Stem Cell Agency Plan Falls Far Short of Solving IOM Concerns

Los Angeles Times Columnist: Stem Cell Agency Still Saddled with Conflict of Interest Problems

The governing board of the $3 billion
California stem cell agency will remain dominated by “special
interests” even with the adoption of a plan last week responding to
the far-reaching recommendations of a blue-ribbon Institute of
Medicine (IOM) study, a columnist for the Los Angeles Times said today.

Michael Hiltzik, Pulitzer Prize winning
writer and author, wrote that IOM study showed the agency “the path
to cleansing itself of its aura of connivance and influence trading.
That the board can't even bring itself to place the proposals before
the voters or their elected representatives only shows how much money
it's willing to waste to keep living in its own little world.”
Hiltzik's column in California'slargest circulation newspaper included fresh comments from both
Harold Shapiro, who chaired 17-month IOM study, which was
commissioned by CIRM, and Jonathan Thomas, the chairman of CIRM and
who drew up the response.
Hiltzik wrote that the study “concluded
that the CIRM board members were saddled with 'almost unavoidable
conflicts of interest, whether actual or perceived.'” He continued,

“That's because by law, 23 of the 29
members must be representatives of California institutions eligible
for CIRM grants or of disease advocacy groups with their own interest
in steering money toward their particular concerns. 

“As a remedy, the panel proposed
eliminating some board slots reserved for grant-receiving
institutions by Proposition
71, the 2004 initiative that created the agency. The idea
was to fill those slots with truly independent members free of any
stake in CIRM funding, even indirectly.”

 Hiltzik wrote,

 "Thomas told me his proposal dealt
with even perceived conflicts of interest on the board in such
"definitive fashion" that it won't be necessary to bother
the Legislature, much less the voters, with such big changes as
remaking the board with a majority of independent members. He pointed
out, not without some pride, that one board member called his
proposed changes 'draconian.'"

Hiltzik had some praise for Thomas.

“Let's stipulate that Thomas has, in
CIRM terms, moved a mountain by jostling the board even this far.
Since its inception, the board has set records for arrogance. That's
a direct legacy from Proposition 71, which exempted the stem cell
program, uniquely among California government bodies, from any
practical oversight by the Legislature or elected officials.”

The Times columnist continued,

“Shapiro told me from his Princeton
office that Thomas' proposals were 'a significant step in the right
direction, which at least indicates that they haven't ignored the
report.' But he doesn't share Thomas' view that voluntary recusals
solve the conflict of interest problem. That can be done, Shapiro
said, only by replacing stake-holding board members with
independents.

"'The more you can reduce the
inherent conflicts, the better off everyone is going to be,' he said.
The board will 'have to go further over time, in my view.'"

Hiltzik wrote,

“The Shapiro panel said it didn't
find any instances of inappropriate behavior by board members or
specific conflicts, but there are two reasons for that: It didn't
search for any, and Proposition 71 defined certain conflicts out of
existence. The measure states that it's no conflict for a board
member to also be an officer of an academic institution or private
corporation that might be applying for grants.

“One of the CIRM board's enduring
self-delusions is that its conflicts of interest are purely a matter
of 'perception.' But there have been documented instances
of favoritism shown to well-connected grant or loan applicants, and
at least one overt attempt by a board member to overturn a rejection
of his institution's project. So much of the board's discussion takes
place behind closed doors or informally that the opportunities for
mutual back scratching are incalculable.

“Thomas' 'draconian' proposals won't
change this state of affairs. Special interests will still dominate
the board. Will barring 13 members from voting on grants while giving
them full rein to participate in discussions really eradicate even
the perception of conflicts? You'd have to be terminally naive to
think so.”

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/I_jSJSpM3nU/los-angeles-times-columnist-stem-cell.html

Posted in Stem Cell Therapy, Stem Cells | Comments Off on Los Angeles Times Columnist: Stem Cell Agency Still Saddled with Conflict of Interest Problems

CIRM's Thomas: Conflicts 'Put to Bed' at Stem Cell Agency

The chairman of the $3 billion
California stem cell agency, Jonathan Thomas, today hailed board
action last week as putting “to bed once and for all” questions
about financial conflicts of interest by members of the agency's
governing board.

Writing on the agency's blog, Thomas
pointed to board approval of a new policy that would bar 13 of the 29
members of the governing board from voting on any grants whatsoever.
The 13 are the members who are “appointed from an institution that
is eligible to receive money.” Three other board members have ties
to institutions that receive money. Two are employees of the institutions and one is the
chair of the University of California board of regents, Sherry
Lansing. All three are appointed as patient advocate members of the
board. Currently all 16 are barred individually from voting on grants
to their institutions, but they can vote for awards to other
institutions.
Thomas proposed the plan last week to
the governing board, which approved it on a 23-0 vote with one
abstention. Thomas advanced the proposal in response to the
recommendations of a 17-month study by the Institute of Medicine(IOM).
CIRM paid $700,000 for the blue-ribbon report, hoping that it would
serve as the basis for continued financing of the agency beyond 2017,
when funds for new grants run out.
The IOM's far-reaching recommendations
included creation of a majority of independent members on the board,
which would mean some current members of the board would lose their
seats. No institutions would be guaranteed seats on the board.
Currently five members are appointed from the University of
California. The Thomas plan does not deal with those recommendations.
The IOM said “far too many” members
of the board have ties to institutions that receive funds from CIRM.
Compilations by the California Stem Cell Report show that about 90
percent of the $1.7 billion that the board has awarded has gone to
institutions linked to directors.
Thomas said that the board last week
“endorsed a framework of proposals that would dramatically change
the way the board works, and directly addresses the concerns and
recommendations of the IOM, in particular their feeling that the way
our Board works could create a perception of conflict of interest.”
Concerning the change in voting for the
13 board members, Thomas wrote,

“It was not an easy change to propose
and certainly not an easy one for our board members to approve. They
all care deeply about our mission and devote a great deal of thought,
time and energy to helping us do our work. So for 13 of them to agree
to abstain from a key aspect of their work was difficult to say the
least. And yet they did it because they felt it was important for the
overall goal of the agency.”

Thomas continued,

“So why did we take this approach?
It's simple. We want people to focus on the great work we do, on the
groundbreaking research we fund, and the impact we are having on the
field of regenerative medicine not just in California but throughout
the U.S. and around the world. As long as there are perceptions of
conflict of interest hanging over the Board, this will continue to be
difficult.”

Thomas said,

“This puts the economic conflicts
issue to bed once and for all.”

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/GHXrGjkYixw/cirms-thomas-conflicts-put-to-bed-at.html

Posted in Stem Cell Therapy, Stem Cells | Comments Off on CIRM's Thomas: Conflicts 'Put to Bed' at Stem Cell Agency