More Than $300 Million to be Awarded: California Schedules 12 Stem Cell Agency Board Meetings This Year

California's $3 billion stem cell agency has scheduled governing board meetings every month this year as it plans to give away more than $300 million.

The board has two types of meetings: telephonic, which are usually routine, ratifying earlier decisions on individual grant applications, and face-to-face meetings, of which there are only four. The face-to-face meetings often involve approval of concepts for new award rounds or significant changes in rules or policies.

Readers interested in the agency should think about taking in one of the four face-to-face sessions. They provide an opportunity to chat informally with board members along with the top staff of the agency.

The telephonic sessions are run out of the agency's Oakland headquarters, another opportunity for face-to-face encounters with some CIRM board members and staff. 

In addition to board meetings, subcommittees meet off and on during the year, sometimes by telephone and face-to-face. But there is no set schedule.

In both types of meetings, they can be listened to via the Internet and also participated in via remote locations at board member sites. All the meetings can be found at this Web site, which provides transcripts of the sessions. Readers can sign up for automatic notifications at that site. 

Here is the rundown.

January 19th, 2017, Telephonic
February 23rd, 2017 Bay Area, face to face
March 23rd, 2017, Telephonic
April 27th, 2017, Telephonic
May 25th, 2017, Telephonic
June 29th, 2017, Bay Area, face to face
July 20, 2017, Telephonic
August, 24th, 2017, Telephonic
September 21st, 2017, Bay Area, face to face
October 26th, 2017, Telephonic
November 30, 2017, Telephonic
December 14th, 2017, Bay Area, face to face

Meeting dates and locations are subject to change

California's Stem Cell Research Spending Up for Review Next Week

If you are interested in how the state of California is going to spend its final $800 million or so on stem cell research, you should catch a key meeting next Tuesday in Oakland, which also can be heard online.

The session involves the 29-member, governing board of the $3 billion California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), as the state stem cell agency is formally known.

The agency was created by California voters in 2004 with voters' expectation that stem cell therapies were all but just around the corner. So far, no therapies have been developed by the agency that are available for widespread use.

Nonetheless, the agency, which runs out of money in 2020, is pushing hard. It has more than 20 clinical trials underway, which is the last step in bringing a therapy to market. However, those trials can take years with no guarantee that a proposed product will emerge successfully.

On tap on Tuesday will be a look at the agency's research plans for the next three years with a review of how it has performed so far in 2016. The agency's proposal for research spending in 2017 is likely to have a significant impact on the hundreds of stem cell researchers in California. The proposal is not yet available online, however, with only two business days left before the meeting.

CIRM is also hinting that there will be some surprises at the meeting, but it is unlikely that a product announcement will be forthcoming.

Additionally on tap are applications for a total of $14.9 million for two early-stage clinical trials. One is for $6.7 million (CLIN2-09439) to test using stem cells and T cells to eliminate the life-long need for immunosuppresive drugs by kidney transplant recipients. The other (CLIN2-09698) is for $8.3 million for a mid-stage trial (2b) for a therapy for retinitis pigmentosa.

The applications were approved for funding by the agency's grant reviewers, who meet behind closed doors and do not publicly disclose their economic or professional interests. Ratification of the reviewer decisions is a formality for the agency. although the names of the recipients are not generally disclosed prior to board action.

The board is expected to re-elect Jonathan Thomas as chairman of the panel. Thomas was elected to the position in 2011. He has sent a  two-page letter to the board detailing his work during the last five years. Also scheduled to be re-elected is Art Torres as vice chairman.

Thomas receives $400,000 annually for his "80 percent effort" in the part-time position. Torres, a former state lawmaker, receives $225,000, also for an "80 percent effort."

Instructions for listening to the meeting online can be found on the agenda. In addition to main meeting site in Oakland, public telephonic locations exist in San Diego and La Jolla. Specific addresses can be found on the agenda.

California Approves $15 Million for Stem Cell Research Ranging from Arthritis to Alzheimer's, But Not Without a "Hair-Cut"

Highlights
Snafu in November
Ankasa whacked
Across-the-board cuts rejected

After a hiccup last month, the California stem cell agency today coughed up $15 million for a quartet of researchers looking into Alzheimer's disease, cartilage repair, arthritis and sickle cell disease, but not before lopping off a big chunk of one proposal.

Action by the governing board of the $3 billion agency came after a snafu at its Nov. 17 meeting. The proposals, all previously approved by the agency's reviewers, hit a roadblock when the budgeted cash was not enough to fund all four. The session last month also stalled as a result of quorum problems and research priorities.

Normally applications approved by reviewers during their closed-door sessions slip through the later public meetings of the agency board with no discussion. But this time around, reviewers approved the four applications, but gave one of the researchers a sizable, financial "hair cut."

Despite concerns about fairness and imposing new conditions on applicants, the board stripped $1.6 million from a $3.7 million application to develop a stem cell therapy for osteoarthritis by Ankasa Regenerative Therapeutics of La Jolla.

The action came after the lead researcher, Jill Helms of Stanford, said her company would make up the shortfall.  She made the comment after being told she could re-submit the application, which was the last to come up for a vote. She indicated that she would prefer to pursue that route rather attempting a problematic and "onerous" re-application with a new set of reviewers early next year.

The other three applications were approved with full funding after a motion to cut all four by about 10 percent failed on a 1-9 vote with one board member abstaining. Board members used the term "hair cut" to describe the reductions, which the applicants would have to make up.

Helms' application was the only one in this round from a business. The others came from non-profit institutions.

Randy Mills, president of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine or CIRM as the stem cell agency is formally known, opposed the 10 percent cuts on all four awards. He said he and his staff did not want to see programs cut "on the fly." He said applicants were not told that they would have to come up with matching funds when they originally applied.

The other three researchers winning awards are Yadong Huang of the Gladstone Institutes, $6 million for Alzheimer's;  Mark Walters of Children's Hospital, Oakland, $4.5 million for sickle cell, and Denis Evseenko of USC, $2.5 million for cartilage repair.

All the awards went to researchers or institutions that have links to persons who sit on the 29-member board. Overall, about 90 percent of the money awarded by CIRM since 2004 has gone to institutions with ties to past or present board members. While board members set rules for funding and the scope of awards, they are not allowed, however, to vote on specific applications from institutions with which they are connected.  

Summaries of reviewers comments, scores and more can be found on this document from CIRM, which is based in Oakland.  Here is a link to the CIRM press release.

Stem Cell Suspense to End Dec. 5 for Four California Researchers

Four California stem cell researchers could well receive a total of $16.6 million in awards next week from the Golden State's 12-year-old stem cell program.

The researchers were caught in a bit of a snafu earlier in November when the $3 billion agency appeared to come up $1.6 million short. The story about the snag also involved quorums, priorities and fiscal discipline, more than is necessary to discuss right here in this item. But you can read all about it here. 

The two researchers identified so far are Yadong Huang of the Gladstone Institutes, Jill Helms of Stanford and Ankasa Regenerative Therapeutics of La Jolla.  The identities of the others are being withheld by the stem cell agency.

Whether all four will receive funding will be determined on Monday Dec. 5 when the stem cell agency's board will hold a telephonic meeting out of its base in Oakland. The agenda gave no indication of how the agency plans to overcome the difficulties that stymied it on Nov. 17.

The public can attend the meeting at the agency's headquarters in Oakland or from telephonic locations in Napa, Beverly Hills, Elk Grove, Los Gatos, Irvine, Sacramento and two each in South San Francisco and San Diego.

The session is also expected to be audiocast on the Internet. More information and addresses can be found on the agenda.

Tracking California Stem Cell Awards: Diabetes to Dialysis

The California stem cell agency, as expected, yesterday pumped $10 million into a North Carolina firm for a kidney dialysis device and upped its stake in a San Diego diabetes therapy firm to $60 million.

The awards were first reported (see here and here) by the California Stem Cell Report last week, which will have more on the subject and other awards in the next day or two. Here is a link to the press release from the $3 billion agency. 

California Stem Cell Appeals: Zika, Parkinson's and 'Heart-on-a-Chip'

Three California researchers are asking the directors of the state's stem cell agency today to reject the decisions of its blue-ribbon scientific reviewers and grant them awards ranging up to $2 million.

The scientists are Alysson Muotri, director of the UC San Diego stem cell program; Birgitt Schuele, director of gene discovery and stem cell modeling at the Parkinson's Institute in Sunnyvale, and Kevin Healy, professor in the department of bioengineering at UC Berkeley.

Muotri is seeking $1 million from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), as the stem cell agency is known. Schuele has applied for $2 million and Healy $1 million.

Alysson Muotri, UCSD photo

In a letter to CIRM's board, Muotri said he is attempting to "set up a human stem cell platform to measure the impact of the Zika virus in the nervous system and to screen potential drugs to alleviate the neurological problems associated with the infection." His application (DISC2-09095) is aimed at filling "fundamental gaps" in Zika knowledge. Muotri, who is from Brazil, wrote,

"I never debated over a grant fund decision before . However, in this case I feel I have the responsibility to alert the ICOC (the CIRM board) about neglecting studies on what we call now the ' Zika virus syndrome.' I can tell by personal experience dealing with this virus in my own lab that this is one of the most dangerous infectious agent I (have) ever seen – one can witness the virus killing brain cells in less than a day."

Birgitt Schuele, TSN photo

Schuele's letter pointed out a new study that she said demonstrated the feasibility of her research (DISC2-08953) involving a therapy for Parkinson's disease. She also included additional information that she hoped would be persuasive to the CIRM board.

Kevin Healy
photo by Laura Peterson, AAAS

In his letter, Healy said his research is aimed at developing "patient specific ‘heart-on-a-chip’ diagnostics that will have a significant impact on the early screening of drugs used to manage hypertrophic cardiomyopathy . Currently, there are no drugs that target specific disease alleles of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy."

He said the main criticism of CIRM reviewers involved the "level of maturity of cardiomyocytes" in his proposed study (DISC2-08990). But he said he proposed using the same protocol as already used by a number of currently funded CIRM researchers.

All three applications were ranked below the cutoff line for funding, which was 85. The score for Healy was 83, Muotri 77 and Schuele 72.

CIRM has funded some applications in the past with lower scores than 85. But in the last two years, it has revised its review and scoring protocols. Since then it has not overridden reviewers' negative recommendations.

The board is scheduled to act on about $30 million in awards today in a telephonic meeting with public locations throughout the state. (See here and here. ) The public can participate in the meeting at those locations, whose addresses can be found on the meeting agenda. The session will be audiocast on the Internet and through an 800-number. Complete information about the Internet access and phone number can be found on the agenda.

Speak Up! California Stem Cell Agency Open for Comments Next Tuesday

Directors of the $3 billion California stem cell agency are scheduled to meet next Tuesday with many teleconference locations throughout the state, providing members of the public an ample opportunity to speak to the agency's governing board on any issue of concern.

The session is scheduled for only one hour and is expected to involve routine approval of changes in the agency's loan policy. So interested parties who want to be heard should not be laggard in being present. State law allows the public to speak on any issue at a meeting, not just items on the agenda.

Teleconference locations are in San Francisco, San Diego, Davis, Pasadena, South San Francisco,  Beverly Hills, Elk Grove, Fresno and two each in La Jolla, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The meeting will be home-based at the agency's headquarters in Oakland.

More detailed addresses can be found on the agenda.

California Stem Cell Board Finishes Today's Business

Directors of the California stem cell adjourned their meeting this afternoon at 2:39 p.m. PDT. This concludes our coverage of today's session.

Directors of the California Stem Cell Agency Open Meeting

The meeting of the governing board of the California stem cell agency began at 9:10 a.m. PDT this morning with the roll call and pledge of allegiance.

Listen in on the $3 Billion California Stem Cell Agency; $44 Million Meeting Available on the Internet

People around the world will have a chance to follow every minute this week of the meeting of the governing board of the $3 billion stem cell agency, which is expected to give away $44 million to chase therapies for everything from cancer to Canavan disease.

The session in Millbrae near San Francisco International Airport will be available on the Internet and by phone, including display of the charts and presentations being used during the day-long session. The phone link is audio only and is available toll-free. Full directions for listening are available on the agenda. 

For those who want to comment live on Wednesday, they will have to be on the scene or at one of three remote locations, all of which are located in La Jolla. Specific addresses again are available on the agenda. 

In addition to the research awards, the board is scheduled to be briefed on the agency's ambitious clinical trial effort, which could be interesting. However, the agency has not posted any background material on the briefing as of this writing. Here is a link to what the agency has on its Web site concerning the clinical effort.

Also on the agenda is a closed-door evaluation of the agency's president, Randy Mills, who was hired in April 2014.

California Stem Cell Researchers Expect $44 Million in Awards from the State Next Week

California's stem cell research agency next week is expected to hand out more than $44 million for attempts to find therapies for everything from cancer to diabetes.

Scheduled to be approved at the $3 billion agency's board meeting next Wednesday are nine applications, most of which are termed translational, meaning that they are attempting to move from basic research to a level where they might be suitable for clinical trials.

Two of the awards are more advanced, and are discussed in an item on the California Stem Cell Report yesterday. They total $7.4 million. Seven translational awards are up for action, totalling $36.8 million. All were approved earlier behind closed doors by the agency's reviewers.

An eighth application for $2.9 million to study a 2nd generation vaccine for the treatment of glioblastoma was also approved by reviewers. However, an agency document said board action is being deferred "to review material new information."  Asked whether questions had been raised "about the nature of the action by the grant review group," Kevin McCormack, senior director of communications, replied, 

"No, this has to do with information that has come to us that might affect the recommendation" of the review group.

Twenty-two applications seeking a total of $59 million were rejected.

None of the applicants was identified by the agency, which withholds that information until the board acts.

However, the agency posted more detail about the review process, scoring and voting than it has in the past. The review summaries and the additional material consumed 85 pages for all of the applications, including those rejected.

The review also marked the first use of new procedures that cut off awards on applications that received a scientific score of less than 85. In the past, awards were made for some applications that ranked in the 60s, including this one that was scored at 61.

In the past, some of the researchers whose applications have been rejected have appeared before the board to request that reviewer decisions be overturned. It was not clear whether that would occur under the new procedures.

Formal appeals are limited to demonstrable conflicts of interest and are pursued in private,  under the agency's rules. However, applicants are not told the names of persons who review their applications, making it difficult to determine whether conflicts exist.

Ten Days in March: Is the $3 Billion California Stem Cell Agency Measuring Up?

Highlights

'Success metrics'

Next week's board meeting

Discouraging public attendance

But amply open in many ways

One of the more admirable aspects of the California stem cell agency’s plan for spending its last $900 million is its attention to careful measurement of the agency’s own performance.

The “success metrics” are tucked away at the end of the agency’s new, 47-page strategic plan. They lay out the criteria for determining how well each team at the agency is doing. The metrics range from the number of conflict of interest appeals to the number of clinical trials completed at Alpha clinics. Based on decades of experience with state agencies, the California Stem Cell Report can attest that such attention to performance is rare among state departments.

The agency's measurements also include the “number of board meeting documents posted with ten-day lead time.” Which is where the March 16 meeting of the governing board of the stem cell agency comes in.

On Saturday, the agency posted on its Web site the agenda for the meeting, a good 11 days ahead of the session in Millbrae, near San Francisco International Airport. The agency plans to give away millions of dollars, perhaps tens of millions. It will review the status of its ambitious and risky clinical trial program, which has seen a sharp upsurge in the last year or two. At least that is what can be deduced from the cryptic agenda items, the longest of which consists of only 26 words.

Total missing, as of this writing, are any documents supplying the details essential for understanding what the agency is actually doing.

The board meetings are the single most important public events of the agency. The agency professes to want to see greater public turnout at the sessions. But without adequate notice and some sort of meaningful information, the public, stem cell firms, scientists and patient advocates cannot make plans to attend the meetings even if they might have a deep impact on their lives.

On Feb. 9, Kevin McCormack wrote on the agency's blog about a CIRM meeting dealing with gene editing. He said,

“(Bioethicist) Alta Charo said this is not just a question for scientists, but something that could potentially affect everyone and so there is a real need to engage as many groups as possible in discussing it

"‘How and to what extent do you involve patient advocates, members of the disability rights community and social justice community – racial or economic or geographic.  This is why we need these broader conversations, so we include all perspectives as we attempt to draw up guidelines and rules and regulations.’”

Those sentiments pretty much apply to all that the agency does. It is spending $6 billion of California taxpayers’ money, including interest, on research that is yet to produce a commercial therapy, despite the facile promises of the ballot campaign that created it in 2004. It is financing experiments in areas that are new to medicine, some of which involve serious risk and ethical considerations.

All of which might seem to be issues that would engage many persons and enterprises. But the best way to discourage involvement by those not embedded in the agency is to withhold information until it is too late to respond. If interested parties don’t know what is going on, how can they offer suggestions and criticism, some of which might be useful and help the agency succeed in its endeavors? Not to mention helping to build support for continued funding beyond 2020, when the agency expects to run out of cash.

Additionally, the agency basically hides the schedule of its public meetings on its Web site. They are virtually invisible on the agency’s home page, buried at the bottom in teeny lettering under a heading of “about CIRM” -- one of 11 subjects such as “mission” and “history.”

In many ways, CIRM is more than amply open and transparent. Its board meetings are audiocast on the Internet and by phone. Its committee sessions are now available live online as well, an improvement that began during the last few months. Transcripts of the sessions are also available online, albeit sometimes months after the sessions.

The CIRM Web site is laden with a variety of material. The agency’s excellent blog, The Stem Cellar, produces daily reports that chronicle CIRM affairs as well as research developments elsewhere.  Interested persons can sign up for email alerts on various CIRM matters. Eventually, most of background information on board meeting agendas is posted online, although sometimes only a day or two ahead of the session.

Nonetheless, CIRM can and should do a better job of telling California what its governing board is up to and what the agency is thinking and doing. One key and long neglected tool is to provide more detailed information -- well in advance -- about the issues that come before the 29-member board that hands out the cash and establishes the priorities for one of the most ambitious stem cell programs in the world.

Speak Up! A Chance to Sound Off to California Stem Cell Agency

If you would like to speak directly to the governing board of the $3 billion California stem cell agency, here’s your chance on Thursday.

The  directors are holding a teleconference meeting at 11 a.m. PST with public locations at 12 different sites around the state. The purpose of the meeting is to approve a $3.8 million application for work on process to manufacture a cord blood treatment for such afflictions as leukemia and lymphoma.

Approval is expected to be routine since the agency’s blue-ribbon reviewers, meeting behind closed doors, have already decided the application should be funded. The identity of recipient, as usual, is being withheld until after the board ratifies the decision by reviewers.

Every board meeting has a point at which any person can address the board on any issue. The board sets a three-minute time limit but has been very flexible in the past.

The teleconference locations are in Oakland, Redwood City, Napa, South San Francisco, Beverly Hills, Fresno, San Diego, Elk Grove, Los Gatos, San Francisco (two different locations there) and Irvine. Specific addresses can be found on the meeting agenda,

You may want to double-check in advance with the agency on the addresses. Only one lists a room number. Others may need to include that detail as well.

San Francisco Business Times: Risky Downside to California's $75 Million Stem Cell Venture Plan

The stem cell agency plan is dubbed ATP3. Here is some of the criteria.

California’s $75 million, stem-cell dip into venture capital waters poses an “embarrassing risk,” according to a story in the San Francisco Business Times.

The article by by Ron Leuty said,

“The strategy offers a potential high return for CIRM and the stem cell field in general, and it's not without the classic scientific risk of biotech investing. But it holds a larger, potentially more damaging and embarrassing risk as well if applicants peruse CIRM's shelves but find nothing to buy after the agency has invested hundreds of millions of taxpayer cash.”

Leuty wrote yesterday about the agency’s proposed plan, first reported last week by the California Stem Cell Report. The agency plans to entice -- with $75 million -- Big Pharma or other investors into a partnership. The private partner would also have to pony up $75 million. The combined enterprise would have first pick of the best of CIRM’s unpartnered research.

Leuty wrote,

"'The plan is not without risk, no doubt about that,' said CIRM President and CEO Randy Mills. 'Nothing about this plan is attempting to do something easy or easily achievable. This is hard and requires a lot of effort, but if we're successful the outcome of it should be transformative to CIRM and regenerative medicine.'”

Leuty continued,

“But there's a potential downside as well if nobody shows up to window shop at CIRM, much less to buy, because stem cell therapies are largely unproven, said Andy Schwab, a managing partner at Menlo Park venture capital firm 5AM Ventures.

"’The mechanism of action still is unknown. It's not like gene editing and gene therapy, where it's very specific,’ said Schwab, mentioning two of the hottest areas of medical science and investment action. ‘It's tough when you don't know the mechanism of action.’

“CIRM also hasn't invested in areas around white-hot CAR-T therapies, where chimeric antigen receptors on the surface of immune system T cells are genetically engineered to amp up their recognition and ability to kill cancer cells.

"’CIRM has really missed it,’ Schwab said. ‘They haven't been leaders in the right space.'

“Still, Schwab said, CIRM does have plenty of ‘really interesting research’ in its portfolio that could interest an investor. The issue, he added, is whether science projects can be commercially viable in a short timeframe.”

Luety continued,

"’It's an innovative solution to what they've been trying to do — to rush basic research concepts into actual treatments that meet people's medical needs,’ said John Simpson, an advocate and former stem cell project director with Consumer Watchdog, a Santa Monica nonprofit that for years tracked CIRM policies and spending.

"’There are potential pitfalls if (the spinout) goes to somebody's buddies,’ Simpson said. ‘But as long as the board does its job and closely vets the awards, this could have some real payback.’"

Responding to a query today from the California Stem Cell Report, Kevin McCormack, senior director for CIRM communications, said that "under CIRM’s IP (intellectual property) regulations, a company that licenses CIRM projects and commercializes them would owe a royalty to the general fund of the State of California(not CIRM). However, we are contemplating awarding funds to the successful ATP3 applicant as a loan, and under Proposition 71, the proceeds of a loan are paid to CIRM for the purposes of making additional research awards. So it is possible that, in addition to the royalties it would owe the general fund as a result of licensing and commercializing CIRM projects, the successful awardee may also owe money to CIRM. "

The $75 million proposal comes up for ratification by the agency board next Thursday at a meeting in Los Angeles.

(Editor's note: The paragraph in this item dealing with IP was inserted shortly after the original version of this item was posted.)

Attacking Barriers to Stem Cell Cures: California to Put Official Stamp on New Strategy

Call it California’s $900-million road map to a stem cell cure. 

That’s what up for final action next week by the governing board of the state’s $3 billion stem cell agency, officially known as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM).

The plan includes a $105 million lure to entice Big Pharma and other possible investors to join the Golden State’s regenerative medicine bandwagon and create an “industrial stem cell therapeutic powerhouse.” 

Randy Mills, president of the California stem cell agency, and his team are calling for “attacks” on barriers to clinical development of therapies. That includes the FDA which Mills and company say “appears to be literally lobbying against the very therapeutic modality they are responsible for promoting.” (See here and here.)

The key part of the $105 million stem surge would bring together next year the state of California and private investors in a joint enterprise. Under the plan, the private investors would have the pick of the best research from CIRM that has not already attracted partners.

The agency would pony up $75 million with another $75 million coming from investors.

(Here are links to the CIRM description of the three components of the $105 million effort: here, here and here.)

The agenda for the Dec. 17 meeting in Los Angeles includes other matters, such as action on a clinical research applications for millions of dollars. The review summaries of those applications are not yet available online, but most of the additional supporting material for the meeting has been posted. That is a healthy change from some recent past meetings where backup information has been missing until much too late.

(The morning of Wednesday Dec. 9, the agency posted a note on the agenda saying the applications were no longer under consideration. Often that means that the proposals have been withdrawn because of negative recommendations from reviewers.)

Also on tap is a major change in the scoring of applications in non-clinical programs. Here is how the change is described by a CIRM memo:

“For non-Clinical Program applications, therefore, we propose to revert to our former scoring system (1 to 100) with two tiers: (Tier 1) average score of 85 or above, recommended for funding, if funds are available, and (Tier 2) average score of 84 or below, not recommended for funding. In  addition, for those programs for which only one application is expected to be funded, we propose to specify that the application that receives the highest average scientific score shall be deemed to be the GWG’s recommendation for funding.”

These changes would be in effect for the three rounds involved in the $105 million surge.

The board is also being asked to raise the cap on payments to patient advocate members of the board from $15,000 to $30,000 annually. The move would be retroactive to the beginning of this year. 

A CIRM memo said that demands on patient advocate directors have increased dramatically both in terms of the numbers of meetings and their role. The memo said that prior to Mills’ arrival at CIRM patient advocates were involved in only three or four review sessions a year. In 2015, those sessions have already risen to close to a dozen.

While next week’s meeting will be based in Los Angeles, remote, telephonic locations where the public can participate will be located at Stanford and UC San Diego. Specific addresses can be found on the agenda.

Speedy Session Today for Directors of $3 Billion California Stem Cell Effort

The $3 billion California stem cell agency today whipped through a 28-minute meeting that featured no public comment on its activities and almost no questions from its governing board.

Approved unanimously were three items that its governing board treated in routine fashion. They included changes in its loan program and conference grants along with appointment of new grant reviewers. 

The changes in the loan procedures and other related grant administration rules must go through additional state processes before final action.

Today’s meeting had 22 teleconference locations throughout the state but no members of the public or the scientific or business community spoke up from those sites. The board has another teleconference meeting scheduled for Nov. 19. The next in-person governing board meeting will be in Los Angeles on Dec. 17. 

Today's California Stem Cell Meeting Open to All at 22 Locations

If you would like to speak directly to the overseers of California’s $3 billion stem cell research effort, today would be a good day.

The agency will have the most ever sites available for public access in its nearly 11-year history to a meeting of its governing board. Twenty-two teleconference locations around California are scheduled to be accessible, ranging from Davis to Fresno to La Jolla as well as major population centers such as Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area.

The meeting begins at noon. The public is entitled to speak to the board on any subject, including its proposals for spending its last $800 million to $900 million. (See here, here, here and here.)

Items on the brief agenda include three non-controversial matters. As usual, the California Stem Cell Report will provide live coverage of the session.

The teleconference sites are in San Francisco (3), Los Angeles (4), San Diego (2), La Jolla (2) and one each in Davis, Sacramento, Redwood City, Irvine, Oakland, Fresno, Berkeley, Elk Grove, South San Francisco, Stanford and San Jose. Specific addresses can be found on the agenda.

California Stem Cell Loan Rules Coming Up Later This Month

The governing board of the $3 billion California stem cell agency has scheduled a brief, teleconference meeting for Oct. 22 during which the public or researchers can address any concerns they may have, including its priorities and spending.

The items on the agenda are routine, but as always there is an opportunity for the public to comment on any topic, whether it is on the agenda or not.  That includes how the agency plans to spend its last $800-$900 million.

There are plenty of teleconference locations spread around the state including two each in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, La Jolla and Irvine. Other locations are in Davis, Sacramento, Redwood City, Oakland and Fresno. Specific addresses can be found on the agenda.

On tap at the meeting is formal approval of loan and other rules in the clinical stage program, changes in conference grants and appointments of new grant reviewers.  

The agency is also in the midst of finalizing changes in its strategic plan for the next few years. Its money for new awards is scheduled to run out in about four years. Although the changes are not expected to be adopted until December, the public can speak directly to the board on the matter at Oct. 22 meeting. 

For more on the choices facing the agency over the next few years, see here, here, here and here.

Connecting With the Public and Stem Cell Stakeholders: A New and Inexpensive Tool

For years the California stem cell agency has given the public access to the meetings of its governing board via a one-way audiocast over the Internet and by phone.

But patients, advocates, scientists and business folks have not had the opportunity to comment and make suggestions re the doings of the 29-member board of directors through the same method. The public could only listen unless they were on the scene.

However, that could change if the $3 billion stem cell enterprise follows the lead of the state Treasurer John Chiang. This summer he began opening up meetings of the many important boards in his office to live, two-way, teleconference connections with the public.

Chiang also uses the same sort of service and company as used by the stem cell agency. But he has added an inexpensive touch that genuinely opens up the meetings to the public.

We recently stumbled across Chiang's press release on the move, which may well be unique in California state government. We queried Drew Mendelson, a spokesman in the treasurer’s office, for more details. 

Mendelson said,

“Participants on the phone are in listen only mode, but when the meeting chair calls for public comments, callers can press a set of numbers to indicate they want to speak.  The conference call is monitored online by (treasurer’s) staff and the call monitor must click on the caller in the queue to allow the person to speak.”

 Mendelson continued,

“Under our state contract with AT&T, we determined that an hour long meeting with 10 callers would cost less than $15.  The cost increases significantly if you have AT&T provide conference monitoring services.  We chose to monitor the calls ourselves.  What we are using is a basic conference call service with an online component where the monitor sees the list of callers to know how many people are on the line and when someone indicates they want to speak.”

Mendelson said that the move was generated by Chiang's desire to enhance public access and his “desire to increase public participation in and increase awareness of the many boards, commissions and authorities" that he chairs.

On-the-scene public participation in CIRM meetings is slim. One of the reasons is that the sessions often require travel and overnight stays that pose barriers for many persons, particularly patients and their advocates. The agency would make it easier for its stakeholders and enhance its reputation for openness and transparency by instituting this inexpensive practice. It also fits with the goal of Randy Mills, the president of the agency, to provide more clarity in what the agency does. 

California Stem Cell Meeting Concludes: More Upcoming on Parkinson's Research, Creation of a 'Stem Cell Machine' and ImmunoCellular

Directors of the California stem cell agency concluded their meeting today at 11:43 a.m. They gave the go-ahead to speedier action on funding for Parkinson's disease research and heard an impassioned presentation from President Randy Mills on his plan to create a "great machine" that will "change regenerative medicine in the world." We will have more on both subjects later along with an interview with the president of ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, which received a $20 million award today.