Stanford University has withdrawn its $10.9 million request
to the California stem cell agency to create an Alpha stem cell clinic on its
campus, along with a complaint that an illegal conflict of interest was
involved in reviewing the proposal.
No further details about the alleged conflict were disclosed
by the stem cell agency, which cloaks such matters in secrecy.
The Stanford application last October came before the board
of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), as the agency is
formally known. It was pulled from the agenda without a vote shortly before it
was to be considered because of the late allegation of a conflict.
The application was to have come again before the CIRM board
yesterday but again was removed. Kevin McCormack, senior director for
communications, said that both the proposal and the complaint had been withdrawn
by the applicant.
McCormack did not disclose the identities of the reviewers
in the Alpha round nor the identity of the applicant, which the agency keeps
secret. But the California Stem Cell Report has learned that it was Stanford.
The proposal received a low score, 64 or below, from the agency’s
blue-ribbon reviewers, all of whom come from out-of-state, and was not recommended for funding. It was a rare loss
for the Palo Alto institution, which has been the most successful in the state
in winning money from CIRM. It has collected $298.3 million in 90 grants. The
figure far surpasses the No. 2 institution, UCLA, which chalked up $215.3
million in 75 grants.
The winners in the $34 million round were the City of Hope
in Duarte, UC San Diego and UCLA-UC Irvine. All of the institutions involved
have representatives on the CIRM governing board. They are not allowed to vote
on applications from their institutions.
In addition to Stanford, the other losing applicants in the
round were UC Davis and UC San Francisco.
See below for a CIRM list of the conflicts of interest in the
round involving various directors.
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