The critical, financial circumstances of the $3 billion California stem cell agency have drawn the attention of the San Francisco Business Times.
The newspaper, which covers the biotech industry in the Bay Area, carried a piece last week that discussed the likelihood of a $5 billion stem cell bond measure on the November 2020 ballot supported by a powerful, emotional campaign. Also covered by the Times were plans to reduce the size of the awards next year along with a brief overview of the agency's progress.
The agency is on track to run out of money for new awards in 2019 and is down to its last $269 million. But it has made a big push into clinical trials and anticipates many more in the next couple of years.
Reporter Ron Leuty wrote,
"The potential success of clinical trials would allow backers of a new bond measure to show real-world examples of how the 2004 measure (that created the agency) paid off in an intense, heart-tugging media blitz."Leuty keyed off Robert Klein's appearance before the agency's directors last month. Klein, sometimes known as the father of the stem cell agency, is touting the bond measure as a longer term financing solution, but did not respond to requests from the Business Times for additional comment.
Leuty continued with quotes from Maria Millan, CEO of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), as the agency is formally known:
"Because we're running so well and have so many potential projects — and we know there are more than what we can fund — the challenge is balancing the funding to as many as possible while making sure that resources are programmed well...We'd like to continue to deliver what we are currently delivering."
"The next couple of years what we're doing is driving that mission because we're starting to take off. In the past, it was mainly hope; now that hope is based on something tangible."
