Researcher Alert: Stem Cell Agency to Take Up Grant Appeal Restrictions

The move by the $3 billion California stem cell agency to curtail its free-wheeling grant appeal process will undergo its first public hearing next week.

The proposals will mean that scientists whose applications are rejected by reviewers will have fewer avenues to pursue to overturn those decisions. The changes could take effect as early as next year.

The move comes in the wake of a record number of appeals this summer that left the board complaining about “arm-twisting,” lobbying and “emotionally charged presentations.”

Among other things, the new "guidelines" attempt to define criteria for re-review – “additional analysis” – of applications involved in appeals, also called “extraordinary petitions.” The plan states that re-review should occur only in the case of a material dispute of fact or material new information. (See the end of this item for agency's proposed definitions.)

In addition to alterations in the appeal process, the CIRM directors' Application Review Task Force will take up questions involving “ex parte communications.” The agenda for the Oct. 24 meeting did not contain any additional information on the issue but it likely deals with lobbying efforts on grants outside of public meetings of the agency. We understand that such efforts surfaced last summer involving the $$214 million disease team round and Robert Klein, the former chairman of the stem cell agency.

Klein appeared twice publicly before the board on one, $20 million application by StemCells, Inc., the first time a former governing board member has publicly lobbied his former colleagues on an application. The application was rejected twice by reviewers – once on the initial review and again later on a re-review – but it was ultimately approved by directors in September on a 7-5 vote.

The board has long been troubled with its appeal process but last summer's events brought the matter to a new head. The issue is difficult to deal with because state law allows anyone to address the CIRM governing board on any subject when it meets. That includes applicants who can ask the board to approve grants for any reason whatsoever, not withstanding CIRM rules. The board can also approve a grant for virtually any reason although it has generally relied on scientific scores from reviewers.

The proposals to restrict appeals are designed to make it clear to scientists whose applications are rejected by reviewers that the board is not going to look with favor on those who depart from the normal appeals procedure.

While the board almost never has overturned a positive decision by reviewers, in nearly every round it  approves some applications that have been rejected by reviewers. That has occurred as the result of appeals and as the result of motions by board members that did not result from public appeals.

Ten of the 29 board members are classified as patient advocates and often feel they must advance the cause of the diseases that they have been involved with. Sometimes that means seeking approval of applications with low scientific scores.

Here is how agency proposes to define “material dispute of fact:”

“A material dispute of fact should meet five criteria:(1) An applicant disputes the accuracy of a statement in the review summary;(2) the disputed fact was significant in the scoring or recommendation of the GWG(grant review group); (3) the dispute pertains to an objectively verifiable fact, rather than a matter of scientific judgment or opinion;(4) the discrepancy was not addressed through the Supplemental Information Process and cannot be resolved at the meeting at which the application is being considered; and (5) resolution of the dispute could affect the outcome of the board’s funding decision."

Here is how the agency proposes to define “material new information:”

“New information should: (1)be verifiable through external sources; (2) have arisen since the Grants Working Group(grant review group) meeting at which the application was considered; (3) respond directly to a specific criticism or question identified in the Grants Working Group’s review; and (4) be submitted as part of an extraordinary petition filed five business days before the board meeting at which the application is being considered."

Next week's hearing is scheduled for Children's Hospital in Oakland with a teleconference location at UC Irvine. Addresses can be found on the agenda.