Looking for the $700,000, IOM Evaluation of the California Stem Cell Agency? Here is a Good Link

 

In 2012, the prestigious Institute of Medicine published a report on California's stem cell agency after months of studying the research program at a cost of $700,000 to the agency itself.

Directors of the agency had expected that the "gold standard" study would give the agency a seal of approval that would lead voters in California to approve additional billions for the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), as the agency is officially known.

The report by the IOM (now called the National Academy of Medicine) has a number of bad links to it on the Internet, and some persons have reported difficulty in finding it. Here is a link that will take you directly to the study where you can read it free online.

Here is the beginning of an article about the study when it was released on Dec. 6, 2012.

IOM Recommends Sweeping Changes at California Stem Cell Agency

A blue-ribbon study of the $3 billion California stem cell agency today said the program has “achieved many notable results,” but recommended sweeping changes to remove conflict of interest problems, clean up a troubling dual-executive arrangement and fundamentally change the nature of the governing board.

The recommendations from the 17-month study by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) would strip the board of its ability to approve individual grants, greatly strengthen the role of the agency's president, significantly alter the role of patient advocates on the governing board and engage the biotech industry more vigorously.

For more on the IOM report and CIRM's actions on its recommendations, see the new book, "California's Great Stem Cell Experiment: An Inside Look at a $3 Billion Search for Stem Cell Cures."