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Category Archives: Stem Cells

California Stem Cell Agency Looking for New Home in Two Years

The California stem cell agency is located south of Market Street in San
 Francisco, close to the San Francisco Giants ballpark(upper right).  Since
 the agency has been there, the area has grown from seedy to gentrified. 
Some not-so-good news surfaced today in
San Francisco involving the $3 billion California stem cell agency.
The news has little to do with its
science efforts but everything to do with where it is located and its
overhead expenses. The agency will be forced out of its free office
space – 20,000 square feet – in two years. The free space was
provided under an $18 million recruitment package and is worth at
least $1 million a year, according to the agency's auditors.
The bad news is that the San Francisco
office-space market is sizzling hot. Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and
other technology firms are scrambling for space in
Baghdad-by-the-Bay, as the city is sometimes known. According to a story this morning by James Temple in the San Francisco Chronicle,
the firms are looking for a total of about 800,000 square feet and
are prepared to pay well for it.
One nearly completed deal involving
Yahoo would cost about $48 per square foot for a 10-year lease. If
CIRM paid at that rate, it would have nearly $1 million in additional
costs annually. However, leasing rates are expected to rise substantially in the next year or so. Also involved in a move would
be the cost of parking, which could run about $360,000 a year.
The stem cell agency is already
examining its options for new offices, including some sort of special
deal with the City of San Francisco.
Former State Sen. Art Torres, onetime
chairman of the state Democratic Party and co-vice chairman of CIRM,
briefed agency directors on the matter at its meeting in May. He
said,

“I met with the mayor of San
Francisco(Ed Lee), who's a dear friend, and he encouraged us to be
aware that he's very committed to helping us find some space in San
Francisco. Whether it means tax credits or incentives to a potential
landlord, we still have to work that out. Obviously we still have to
work out what the space will be. But the fact that the mayor has
indicated very explicitly that he wants to keep us in San Francisco,
I think it will bode well for us down the road.

“The current owner of the property
(Stockbridge Capital Partners) has not been happy that for ten years
they've had to supply free rent to us. And what they didn't
anticipate was having to provide for over $755,000 in operating
costs, which they thought some donors would take are of. Those donors
-- some of whom passed away and others who chose to give money to
other institutions, UC San Francisco, in particular, to the stem cell
lab, which was very much appreciated, I know, by UCSF – but at
the end of the day, there's no room for negotiations with this
current owner.”

CIRM Director Joan Samuelson asked
Torres whether future rent would also be free. Torres, who is also
president of San Francisco's Public Utilities Commission, replied,

“I would not work on that assumption.
I would work on the assumption somewhere between a dollar and more,
again, dependent upon what kind of tax incentives the City of San
Francisco would provide. We're very fortunate that my son(Joaquin
Torres) is the deputy mayor for economic development, so we also have
him working on this as well.”

Samuelson replied,

“I'll ask more questions offline.”

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/v8usDDMWucE/california-stem-cell-agency-looking-for.html

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California Stem Cell Official Duane Roth in Improving Condition

Duane Roth, the co-vice chairman of the
California stem cell agency, is improving after he was hospitalized
for treatment of a serious brain injury sustained in a bicycle accident Sunday in
the mountains east of San Diego.
According to a report on Xconomy.com,
Roth's brother, Ted, said yesterday, 

“Were certainly moving in the
right direction. We're now looking at the recovery phase.”

The article by Bruce Bigelow said Roth
has passed through the most critical period following surgery at the
UC San Diego hospital.
Roth, the 63-year-old CEO of the San
Diego technology organization, Connect, is in serious condition in a
medically induced coma.
The governing board of the California
stem cell agency yesterday took special note of Roth at its meeting and sent its best wishes to him and his family.  

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/nmnYkisG6MU/california-stem-cell-official-duane.html

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Another $23 Million to Recruit Star Stem Cell Scientists to California

California's $46 million effort to lure
stem cell research stars to the Golden State was expanded today by
another $23 million.
Directors of the stem cell agency
approved the funds on a 14-4-1 vote. CIRM directors Jeff Sheehy and
Francisco Prieto were among those opposing the move. Prieto declared,

“We are coming up against finite resources. We have better ways to spend
our money."

 Sheehy said that CIRM is contributing to inflation in stem cell science with its lucrative recruitment grants. 

Those supporting the expansion said that the grants have had a great impact on the field, not only bringing in individual scientists, but accompanying researchers in their labs along with grants from other sources.
The additional funds will go to
institutions that have not already benefited from one of the earlier
grants in the program. Up to four awards are expected to be made.
The CIRM staff proposal on the plan
said,

“A number of California institutions
have not yet been able to secure a confirmed Research Leadership
award but would benefit greatly from the recruitment of emerging or
established leaders in stem cell biology. Participation in the CIRM
program could bring additional, exceptional researchers to
California, strengthen and synergize with other efforts to build up
local sustained research communities in stem cell biology and
medicine and provide ongoing leadership at the cutting edge of
California regenerative medicine.”

All of the California institutions
involved with the winning researchers have representatives on the
governing board of the stem cell agency. They are not allowed, however, to vote
on grants to their institutions or researchers -- only on proposals such as today's $23 expansion.
Applications are due in January with
final approval scheduled for next May. The program is not open to
businesses.

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/iJ66PTxTsX8/another-23-million-to-recruit-star-stem.html

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California Stem Cell Agency Launches $70 Million Alpha Stem Cell Clinic Project

The California stem cell agency today approved
a $70 million plan to create a network of “Alpha” stem cell
clinics that is aimed at making the Golden State one of the leading
purveyors and developers of stem cell therapies in the world.

The 29-member governing board of the California
Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM)adopted the plan on a 19-1 vote. The negative vote came from Joan Samuelson, who questioned
whether the plan was premature and whether existing scientific research justified development of the clinics. 
Sherry Lansing, a patient advocate board member and
former head of a Hollywood studio, said the proposal is “one of the
most exciting proposals that we have ever had in front of us.” She
said it was the “beginning of this dream coming true.”
Under the far-reaching proposal, which
CIRM President Alan Trounson has been promoting for two years, the
agency will finance five stem cell clinics at established
institutions in California with grants of up to $11 million. Another
$15 million will be allotted for a stem cell information and
coordination center. Major matching contributions will be expected
from award winners over the five-year terms of the grants.
The effort is aimed at drawing in
clinical trials and patients from the around the world and creating a
central bank of knowledge, know-how and regulatory expertise. It
will also guide efforts to build profits into stem cell therapies
and to develop strategies to attract investors and philanthropists.
(For more information on the plan, see here, here, here, here and
here.)
Trounson said in a statement,

“These clinics have the potential to
revolutionize how we deliver stem cell therapies to patients. Stem
cell therapies are a completely new way of treating diseases and
disorders so we need a completely new way of delivering those in a
safe and effective manner. These clinics will help us do just that
and the clinical trials carried out in this network will fulfill the
agency’s promise of bringing new therapies to patients who need
them.” 

The journal Nature Medicine has
reported that the Alpha clinics would be the first-ever “clinical
trials network focused around a broad therapeutic platform.”
The CIRM board heard no negative
comment on the plan other than the remarks by Samuelson. . However,
not everyone sees a need for it. Mahendra Rao, director of the Center
for Regenerative Medicine at the National Institutes of
Health(NIH) , says its surveys of researchers have not shown a demand
for such centers. In May, a researcher at institution that likely
would be an applicant filed a blistering, anonymous comment on the
California Stem Cell Report, describing it as a "boondoggle" and "irresponsible." The scientist said,

“Another boondoggle for some medical
schools but made to order for private operators like for-profit
cancer, dialysis, and laser eye specialty clinics that do one
procedure.  I can see each of the medical schools gifted with
one as they each were gifted with about 25 million dollars for stem
cell institute buildings.”

The researcher continued,

“The NIH at various times has tried
to organize clinical trials groups with infrastructure, like quick
reaction forces, ready to gear up for a new trial at the drop of a
hat. They mainly did nothing but suck money, kept staff employed,
because there are generally few drugs ready for early human trials
and each treatment that is brought along requires a unique contract,
ethics reviews, and different facilities, equipment and staff than
planned for.  The latest incarnation are CTSAs or CTSIs,
clinical and translational science centers funded by the federal NIH
that most if not all California medical schools already have.”

The RFA for the proposal is expected to
go out in October and approval of funding coming one year from now. Here is the link to today's CIRM press release on the plan. 

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/EBbBzLL9dQQ/california-stem-cell-launches-70.html

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Coming Up: Live Coverage of Today's California Stem Cell Meeting

The California Stem Cell Report will
provide live, wall-to-wall coverage of today's meeting of the
governing board of the $3 billion California stem cell agency.
At the top of the agenda is a $70
million proposal aimed at creating a string of Alpha stem cell clinics in
California that would serve as a foundation for the state's stem cell
business. Also on tap are other proposed grant programs, including a
$23 million expansion of a researcher recruitment effort and a $35 million round aimed at removing roadblocks to turning research into
cures.
Stories will be filed as warranted
throughout the day based on the Internet audiocast of the proceedings. 

Interested parties can also listen in
on the meeting via the Internet. Instructions can be found on the agenda.  

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/Vi8IGlL2TzY/coming-up-live-coverage-of-todays.html

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Coming Up: Live Coverage of Today’s California Stem Cell Meeting

The California Stem Cell Report will
provide live, wall-to-wall coverage of today's meeting of the
governing board of the $3 billion California stem cell agency.
At the top of the agenda is a $70
million proposal aimed at creating a string of Alpha stem cell clinics in
California that would serve as a foundation for the state's stem cell
business. Also on tap are other proposed grant programs, including a
$23 million expansion of a researcher recruitment effort and a $35 million round aimed at removing roadblocks to turning research into
cures.
Stories will be filed as warranted
throughout the day based on the Internet audiocast of the proceedings. 

Interested parties can also listen in
on the meeting via the Internet. Instructions can be found on the agenda.  

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/Vi8IGlL2TzY/coming-up-live-coverage-of-todays.html

Posted in Stem Cell Therapy, Stem Cells | Comments Off on Coming Up: Live Coverage of Today’s California Stem Cell Meeting