Industry has long been unhappy with its meager share of CIRM grants – 7 percent of $1.25 billion. A blue-ribbon panel commissioned by CIRM last year recommended major improvements.
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| Duane Roth |
Thomas' plan for engagement of industry will be discussed this evening at Stanford at the first meeting of the board's new eight-member Intellectual Property Subcommittee.
Thomas' proposal, posted only early today on the CIRM web site, would expand the panel's current jurisdiction. The document said,
Juelsgaard, former executive vice president of Genentech and currently a lecturer at Stanford Law School, was appointed to the board last May by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom. Juelsgaard once was reported as being considered as a possible candidate for chair of the agency."In light of CIRM’s desire to engage industry in its mission to deliver therapies and cures to patients who suffer from chronic disease and injury and the overlap between industry-related issues and the current jurisdiction of the subcommittee, Chairman Thomas, with the concurrence of Subcommittee Chair (Stephen) Juelsgaard, proposes to expand the jurisdiction of the subcommittee to include industry-related issues, such as: (1) participation by representatives of industry as members of the Grants Working Group; (2) the development and refinement of programs to incorporate industry into CIRM’s research programs; (3) financing issues relating to industry involvement with CIRM; (4) evaluation of barriers to industry engagement in CIRM-related or funded activities; (5) addressing means of encouraging industry interaction and involvement, especially in the areas of development, regulatory compliance, manufacturing and commercialization, with CIRM-funded research organizations that have identified potential promising therapies and (6) consideration and refinement of CIRM’s loan program."
Stephen Juelsgaard
Thomas said Roth would be named co-chair of the IP Subcommittee with responsibility for industry relations. Juelsgaard will deal more generally with IP issues, including "developing a program to assist CIRM grantees in protecting intellectual property generated from CIRM-funded research and to ensure that the state has an opportunity to share in the revenues arising out of CIRM-funded research." That topic is on the agenda of this evening's meeting.
Also to be discussed is another industry-friendly effort: A $30 million "Opportunity Fund" to "enhance the likelihood that CIRM funded projects will obtain funding for Phase III clinical trials (e.g. follow-on financing), (ii) provide a potential source of co-funding in the earlier stages of clinical development, and (iii) provide CIRM funded projects with access to pharma and large biotech partners that can provide valuable expertise in the areas of regulatory, clinical trial design and manufacturing process development."
CIRM gets its most funding from State legislation passed stem cell bond. Most of California’s promising human embryonic stem cell researchers have not been able to lollygagging into CIRM’s visible score board. The most advanced human embryonic stem cell trial is Geron’s trial, still a safety trial in Phase I. The opportunity fund sounds like just give these big biotechs having representatives in CIRM the backdoor to bully more California taxpayer’s money. Geron’s safety trial showed their oligodendrocytes, the nursing cells, turned into fibroblast cells, the bureaucrat, no disease modifying activity. But Geron got its own representative in CIRM. The peer-review has failed to disclose to public why Geron is still in a safety trial after 3 years, the 25 million State money would not get Geron’s trial any further, may get Geron’s stock up.
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