Salk CEO Brody Named to CIRM Board

The latest addition to the board that controls California's $3 billion stem cell agency is an electrical engineer and a physician. He was once ranked as the highest paid university president in the United States (Johns Hopkins, 2007, $1.49 million). And in pinch he could fly you – as a pilot – to the headquarters of Novartis in Basel, Switzerland, where he sits on the board of directors of that $53 billion pharmaceutical enterprise.

William R. Brody (see photo) is the man who is coming aboard at CIRM. Last fall he took over as head of the Salk Institute in La Jolla, Ca. And last week, California Lt. Gov. John Garamendi named him to replace Martha Chandler, the executive vice president at Salk, on the CIRM board. Chandler presumably resigned in favor of her boss.

In a news release on Friday, CIRM quoted Garamendi as saying that Brody is one of the nation's leading thinkers in biomedical engineering and healthcare policy. CIRM said he has authored more than 100 medical journal articles and co-founded three medical device companies.

Brody's pedigree also includes stints on the board of directors of a number of companies. In addition to Novartis, he currently sits on the IBM board, including its executive compensation committee, and the board of the Commonweath Fund, a foundation working toward a “high performance health system.”

Brody has spoken out and written on subjects of wider interest than those in scientific journals. In 2005, he deplored “the hodgepodge of local legislation, control and restriction (that) does not recognize the fundamentally porous nature of modern research science.” And he raised the specter of a human embryonic stem cell scientist being arrested in an unfriendly state during a layover there.

Also in 2005, he made a comment which seems to have application to CIRM, which refuses to disclose the financial interests of scientists who make the de facto decisions on hundred of millions of dollars in grants. Brody wrote,

“...(C)onflict-of-interest situations should always require disclosure. Disclosure is a necessary—but not sufficient—condition for supervising conflicts of interest. Additional checks, balances or prohibitions may be required to reach an appropriate risk profile for the behavior, but full disclosure is always the vital first step.”

He had this to say on another occasion.

“In my mind, conflict of interest begins the day a scientist has an idea. Even receiving NIH grant support drives a certain mode of behavior that could conflict the objectivity of that scientist. And licensing the idea to outside interests adds additional conflicts. A surgeon who develops a new clinical procedure will want to pursue the development of that procedure—which means conflict, hopefully positive—even without the involvement of an outside company. If she invents a surgical device that enables the operation and licenses that technology to an outside company, the conflict becomes more apparent, even though the conflict was no less real before any agreement was signed. But it is probably impossible to erect a firewall between the scientist and the supposed source of conflict. I know of few surgeons who would use a device invented by someone else if that colleague, even for reasons of conflict of interest, did not use that device herself. As a venture capitalist once told me, 'No conflict, no interest.'”

The July issue of the Salk Institute's house organ carried a profile on its new CEO in which he said, “The best institutions have to have a ruthless commitment to excellence."

That effort includes, he said, “assembling the money for hefty research start-up packages for new faculty.” That could mean a vote – depending on his view of conflicts of interest – for the $40 million research recruitment plan being offered up later this week at the CIRM board meeting.

The Salk profile also has other interesting tidbits, but does not mention that Brody holds ratings as an airline transport pilot and flight instructor, which in theory could make it possible for him to wing his own way to Basel.

Brody's career is indeed impressive. However, he seems careful to soft-pedal it. As he told then San Diego Union-Tribune reporter Terri Somers in an article last fall,

“I grew up in Stockton. Someone from Stockton can't put on airs.”

Stem Cell Research State by State

Stateline.org today carried a detailed overview of embryonic stem cell research efforts state by state, including the case of a woman who unsuccessfully tried to donate a leftover embryo from her IVF treatment in Michigan.

She was told she had to go to another state because Michigan law bans research on human embryos.

Writer Christine Vestal put together the piece, which goes into some detail on each state with links to the agencies that do the work.

Here is an excerpt:

"Seven states — California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Wisconsin — are providing seed money for the fledgling science, and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) in May called on lawmakers in his state to follow suit.

"Six other states — Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, North Dakota and South Dakota — ban the research. Three states — Iowa, Massachusetts and Missouri — have affirmed its legality but do not offer funding.

"In Florida and Texas, lawmakers are deadlocked on the issue. Most states have steered clear of it altogether."

Stem Cell Snippets: Court Appeals, Cheerleading,UC Davis Plans, Pera and Kuehl

Stem Cell Lawsuit Appeal – The time has changed on the oral arguments on Feb. 14 in the appeal of the verdict in the CIRM lawsuit trial. It is now set for 2 p.m.

World's Oldest Cheerleader? – Relentless patient advocate Don Reed says next Friday (when CIRM makes its first research grants) is an "unbreakable date" in San Francisco (actually Burlingame, which is near the airport). In his effort to generate favorable news coverage, he wrote a piece on "StemBlog," which is part of the Stem Cell Action Network. Reed said this about the expected grant announcements, "Worst Scenario: the opposition shows up in full force, which they will– and in support? Old white-haired Don is there by himself, the world’s oldest cheerleader. Best Scenario: a ton of people smiling, including some friends driving wheelchairs, joined in the celebration of a truly historic day, when in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, a great state led a great nation into a new age."

Losing the Stem Cell Race – The Washington Post and the Sacramento Bee carried an op-ed piece that suggested state efforts to pump up stem cell research are not enough. According to Joseph Fuller and Brock Reeve, the reasons include: "The entry of individual states into the breach left by the federal government has helped drive research activity. But it has also created a patchwork of regulations and funding levels that constrains research collaboration. Expensive and restrictive enabling patents, political controversy and the absence of federal research money, coupled with a long time to market, have made venture capitalists reluctant to invest. In 2005, just over $100 million in venture capital went to stem cell ventures, compared with $500 million in biotech ventures at an equivalent stage."

UC Davis Stem Cell Plans – The campus newspaper at UC Davis has a rundown on $75 million in stem cell research building plans on the campus. Written by Allie Shilin, the piece says: "The newest addition to the center is a 5,160-square-foot Good Manufacturing Practice laboratory to be housed in a 100,000-square-foot renovated portion of the UC Davis Medical Center on Stockton Boulevard in Sacramento."

Reijo Pera – The co-director of the UC San Francisco ESC research center is leaving to join Stanford as director of "human embryonic stem cell research and education for the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine."

Kuehl's CIRM Legislation – Jesse Reynolds of the Center for Genetics and Society is "encouraged" by State Sen. Sheila Kuehl's proposal to make changes at the California stem cell agency. He writes on Biopolitical Times that her ideas are worthy of support.

Beware the White Coat Crowd

Health industry gadfly Merrill Goozner is taking a jaundiced view of the stem cell arms race in states across the country.

Citing New York's latest proposal and California among other states, Goozner wrote on The Huffington Post:

"Stem cell research is promising, and it shouldn't be impeded by a bunch of anti-science right-to-lifers with God and the president on their side. But like any strain of research, the likelihood of a major medical breakthrough coming from stem cells is probably not that much greater than gene therapy, the human genome project, the war on cancer or any of the multi-billion-dollar medical research programs that came before it. A lot of knowledge and a few good things will come out of stem cell research, but will it make those with severed spines stand up and walk? Call me irreligious, but I'm skeptical."

He continued:

"Of course, there will be some new jobs created for university researchers, their underpaid foreign graduate students, and the white coat crowd in the biotech industrial parks subsidized by the taxpayers. But is this really the best use of government subsidies, especially at a time when the health care sector -- 16 percent of GDP and still growing -- is sapping the vitality of the rest of the economy? Has anyone given any thought to how much some of these breakthrough stem cell technologies might cost, and how the rest of the economy might pay for them?"

Goozner is directs the Integrity in Science Project at the Washington-based Center for Science in the Public Interest.