Showing posts with label prop. 71 rationale. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prop. 71 rationale. Show all posts

Thursday, November 05, 2015

George Bush, the California Stem Cell Agency and the Daily Beast: A Story for 20 Million Readers

The Daily Beast this morning carried a story with the headline “George W., Father of the Stem Cell Revolution.”

If that gives you pause, consider the Daily Beast’s next two paragraphs.
“It wasn’t what President George W. Bush had in mind. In 2001, Bush restricted the use of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, giving conservatives what looked like a major victory in the nation’s culture wars.
“Three years later California thumbed its nose at the ban by starting its own multi-billion dollar stem cell program, and several states followed suit. Even though the restrictions were lifted in 2009, the insurgent movement survived and grew.”
The article was authored by Guy Gugliotta, who writes on science and public policy. The piece appeared both on the Daily Beast, which claims more than 20 million readers a month, and Kaiser Healthline, which is also carried on the Daily Beast. The article offers a lesson in unintended consequences for those who thought the federal restrictions would crush research using human embryonic stem cells. Gugliotta said,
“Today at least seven states offer stem cell research funding or other incentives to local scientists and industry.” 
The article covered the scene in states across the country, but dealt in more detail with the $3 billion California stem cell agency. Quoted was Randy Mills, president of the agency, as well as yours truly. Gugliotta wrote,
“’Without George Bush, this agency would not exist,’ said David Jensen, publisher of California Stem Cell Report, a blog focused on the California institute.” 
Bush’s restrictions created the justification for California to march -- on its own -- into the wilderness of stem cell research 11 years ago this month. Absent Bush's actions, there would have been virtually no perceived need for the state to embark independently.  

Gugliotta recounted the history of the agency and summarized the issues that have come up since 2004. He wrote,
C. Randal Mills, chosen in 2014 as the institute’s new president and chief executive officer, said the organization is adjusting to ‘a world that has changed significantly’ since 2004 by moving away from simply funding good ideas in isolation to what he describes as a ‘system-based agency.’
“Last year the institute had 10 programs in clinical trials, but expects to have 20 by the end of this year.
“'We’re setting up continuous paths to move basic research to clinical trials,’ he added. ‘It’s like a train moving down a track, where each grant is the link to the next step down the line.’” 
Noting that President Obama has lifted the Bush restrictions, Gugliotta concluded,
“Despite the improved national (stem cell research) climate, states, both for economic and scientific reasons, have continued to fund their own programs. NIH lists initiatives in six states, not counting Minnesota, and other reports have suggested that as many as 15 states either have dedicated programs or fund stem cell research or did so in the past.
“Yet in a discipline that is just beginning to enter a translational phase, it is hard to evaluate the effectiveness of individual programs: ‘It’s a huge field, and it’s still early,’ said Heather Rooke, scientific director for the International Society for Stem Cell Research. “States will continue to do basic research, and California has certainly already had important influence driving the research to the clinic.’
“Results will take time, agreed Minnesota’s (Jakub) Tolar, but it is worth the trouble: ‘We started on drugs a hundred years ago. Then we went to monoclonal antibodies—biologicals,’ he said. ‘We are now getting ready to use cells as a third way of doing medicine. We are at a historical sweet spot.’”

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Campaign Contributions, Kleiner Perkins, iPierian and CIRM Grant

A biotech company heavily backed by venture capitalists who contributed nearly $6 million to the election campaign that created the California stem cell agency was awarded a $1.5 million grant this spring from the very same agency.

The firm, iPierian, Inc., of South San Francisco, reportedly plans to seek many more millions from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine in the near future.

The venture capitalists are principals in Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers of Menlo Park, Ca. They include John Doerr and his wife, Ann, who contributed nearly $4 million to the Prop. 71 ballot initiative, according to state records. Doerr is well-known in company start-up circles and was involved in the early funding of Google and Amazon.

Other Kleiner contributors to the campaign included Vinod Kholsa, $500,000; Joseph Lacob, $750,017, and Brooks Byers, $480,000.

The Kleiner-related contributions amounted to 25 percent of the $24 million contributed in 2004 to create the stem cell agency.

During the 2004 campaign, some critics said that Prop. 71 amounted to little more than seed money for the venture capital community. The state voter guide's argument against the proposition said, “...(P)harmaceutical company executives and venture capitalists contributed $2.6 million (to gather signatures) to put this measure on the ballot. By getting taxpayers to fund their corporate research, they stand to make billions with little risk.”

In 2008, Kleiner launched its investment into what is now iPierian with $20 million. Kleiner is its single largest financial backer. One of Kleiner's partners has a seat on the five-member iPierian board.

In response to a query, James Harrison, outside counsel to CIRM, strongly defended the agency. He said its conflict of interest code exceeds the requirements of state law. The full text of Harrison's comments can be read here, but he said in part,
“In order to advance CIRM's mission, it is critical that venture firms like KPC&B (Kleiner) invest in stem cell companies so that these start-up companies have the funds necessary to bring therapies to the market.”
Kleiner did not respond to a request yesterday for comment.

The grant to iPierian was approved with the vote of the man who was the head of the Prop. 71 campaign, Robert Klein, a real estate investment banker in Palo Alto, Ca. He is now also chairman of the $3 billion California stem cell agency. Klein sits on the grant review group that makes the de facto decisions on grants. He participated in the closed-door session during which the iPierian grant (see review summary here) was approved and the full board meeting at which the decision was ratified. Harrison said no conflict of interest existed for Klein.

Harrison said,
“California conflict of interest law does not require recusal under
these circumstances. Indeed, the connection is so attenuated, it is difficult even to understand how this could ever rise to the level of a conflict.”
Harrison said Klein had no knowledge of the involvement of the Kleiner campaign contributors with iPierian. Harrison also said that Klein has pledged to “refrain from holding any financial interests in biotech companies as long as he is chairman.”

Another member of the grant review group had a direct connection to iPierian and was recused. She is Amy Wagers, a Harvard scientist who sits on both the iPierian scientific board and the CIRM grant review group. Wagers did not respond to a request for comment.

The stem cell company has other ties to CIRM. George Daley of Harvard, co-chair of the iPierian's scientific advisory board, is on the blue-ribbon scientific panel that is slated to assess CIRM's progress next fall. In addition to Wagers, two other members (Kevin Eggan and Chad Cowan)of the iPierian advisory board serve on CIRM groups that make decisions on grants and recommend research policies to the CIRM board. John Walker, the president of iPierian, and Ted Love, a CIRM board member, both serve on the 9-member board of directors of Affymax, Inc., of Palo Alto, Ca.

Daley and iPierian did not respond to a request for comments.

Ipierian has said it is interested in applying for more cash from CIRM. According to Ron Leuty of the San Francisco Business Times, the firm plans to seek an award in CIRM's new, $50 million clinical trial round. It is expected to be one of only three companies applying in that round.

We will carry the full text of remarks from Kleiner, iPierian or individuals mentioned in this item if we receive them.

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Nature on Disease Team Round: The Race is On

Nature magazine has published another piece on the California stem cell agency's ambitious, $230 million disease team round, calling it the “starting gun” to confirm the promise of stem cells.

The Nov. 2, 2009, story by Erika Check Hayden said that some researchers around the country say the grants and loans will benefit the field as a whole. She also carried a comment from the former chairman of the CIRM grants review group, Stuart Orkin. Orkin resigned his post last November and did not participate in the review of the disease team grants.

Hayden wrote,
“Other researchers have welcomed the awards, but note that many of the projects test ideas that are similar to work being funded elsewhere.

"'The general [new-grant] portfolio strikes me as being similar to what is going on elsewhere,'" says haematologist Stuart Orkin of the Children's Hospital Boston in Massachusetts. 'I don't see anything radically different from what I see people thinking about in other institutions, but it's great to have the funding to do it.'

“For instance, two of the grants will fund work to develop monoclonal antibodies — targeted biological drugs that are already approved for many indications — to target cancer cells. Another grant will try to use a patient's own cardiac stem cells to repair damage from heart attacks, a controversial approach that is already being tested in patients. A fourth grant aims to modify patients' bone-marrow cells to correct the genetic defect that causes sickle-cell anaemia, then implant the cells back into patients.

“A similar approach has been used to treat severe combined immunodeficiency disorder. 'That would have been called gene therapy before, instead of stem-cell therapy, and there are a number of people doing that,' Orkin points out.”
The magazine also carried an item last week on its blog.

Don Gibbons
, chief communications officer for CIRM, has pointed out that the grants received more coverage than we reported last week. We found another story in a local paper in Los Angeles, the Daily News, and one on a Los Angeles radio station, KPCC. The Daily News story was reprinted in the Contra Costa Times. Other stories appeared elsewhere as well.

In our reporting on news coverage of CIRM events, we rely on Internet search engines, which are not perfect and sometimes slow. Plus we do not necessarily mention every news report in our items, just the ones of interest with higher impact or interesting reporting or commentary.

CIRM has a standing invitation to comment on any subject, including accounts of CIRM news coverage, on the California Stem Cell Report. We have told the agency on more than one occasion we will carry their commentary verbatim, a practice that is not found in the mainstream media.

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