If you are interested in whether the $3 billion California stem cell agency is going to live or die, you may want to check in on a meeting one week from today.
A new committee of the agency's directors that was formed to deal with transition issues is scheduled to meet for three hours next Monday to consider various scenarios and how the agency might deal with them.
The impetus for the meeting is a projection that it will run out of cash for new awards in mid 2020 with no funding in realistic sight.
One of the possibilities for extending the life of the agency is to curtail its award programs, which could possibly give the agency another one or two years of existence. The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, as the agency is formally known, has roughly $650 million left but has been taking on clinical trials, some of which have been running $20 million a pop.
The session will be based out of the agency's headquarters, but teleconference locations are listed in Los Angeles, Duarte and La Jolla. The public can ask questions or make statements from those locations in addition to the main site in Oakland. Listen-only access is also available on the Internet. Full instructions and addresses can be found on the meeting agenda.
Any updates from this meeting?
ReplyDeleteThe California Stem Cell Report was at the meeting, but for a variety of reasons an item on the session has been delayed but will be forthcoming probably tomorrow. The short answer is that the transition committee took no definitive action. Another session involving the science committee is scheduled for November with full board action in December. Nonetheless, there are some interesting developments about the direction in which the agency seems to be heading. A good bet is that the pace and/or size of awards will slow.
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