Showing posts with label disease team. Prop. 71 rationale. Show all posts
Showing posts with label disease team. Prop. 71 rationale. Show all posts

Monday, November 07, 2011

Trounson, Parthenotes and International Stem Cell

The president of the California stem cell agency, Alan Trounson, popped up in a recent article in Scientific American dealing with a method for creating pluripotent stem cells from unfertilized human eggs.

The piece by Julia Galef said that "many investigators remain frustrated" that the method "remains offlimits" for federal funding, a barrier that does not apply to financing from the $3 billion California stem cell agency.

Galef wrote that one California firm, International Stem Cell Corp., of Carlsbad, is using the method to develop products. She said the firm's work involves "a process called parthenogenesis, in which researchers use chemicals to induce the egg to begin developing as if it had been fertilized. The egg—called a parthenote—behaves just like an embryo in the early stages of division. Because it contains no genetic material from a father, however, it cannot develop into a viable fetus."

Trounson was quoted as saying, nonetheless, that "proving that unfertilized eggs will produce stable tissues in humans remains an obstacle." He said other labs need to replicate the work.

International Stem Cell has applied unsuccessfully several times for research funding from the California stem cell agency.

The Scientific American article said,
"International Stem Cell scientists have converted them into liver cells and plan to convert them into neurons for treating Parkinson’s disease, pancreatic cells for diabetes, and other tissues. Meanwhile teams at the Massachusetts-based Bedford Stem Cell Research Foundation are working to improve the efficiency of methods of deriving stem cells from parthenotes."
As researcher interest in parthenotes gains attention, the NIH is being urged to change its negative position. Late last year, Teresa Woodruff, founder and director of the Institute for Women's Health Research at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and others called for a lifting of the NIH ban on funding for parthenotes.

California is not constrained by NIH limitations. One of the key reasons, if not the only reason, that voters approved in 2004 the ballot initiative that created the $3 billion stem cell agency was to fund research that the federal government did not. At the time, the focus was on the Bush ban on financing hESC research.

Ken Aldrich, co-chairman of International Stem Cell, circulated the Scientific American article, touting its significance.

We found this posting on the Stem Cell Pioneers web site in which Aldrich said,
“We at International Stem Cell Corporation (ISCO.OB) are finding it increasingly gratifying that mainstream and highly respected publications like Scientific American are now beginning to take notice of the fact that our parthenogenetic stem cells may well turn out to be a viable alternative to the embryonic stem cells that have dominated research and headlines for the last 10 years.

"Like embryonic stem cells, our parthenogenetic stem cells can be converted into almost any kind of cell that might ever be needed for therapy, but can also provide a solution to the two biggest issues that have surrounded embryonic stem cell research: 1) the ethics of destroying a fertilized embryo, which our process never does, and 2) the problem of immune rejection by the patient. We hope you enjoy the attached article." 

Monday, December 13, 2010

Top California Official Urges Suspension of CIRM Chair Election

The state's top fiscal officer, who has a special role in connection with the California stem cell agency, this afternoon called for cancellation of this week's election of a new CIRM chair, declaring that the current process is fundamentally flawed.

John Chiang, who heads a Prop. 71-created committee that reviews the financial practices and performances of CIRM, said in letter to the agency's governing board,
“It is clear that the current selection process is fundamentally flawed. The taxpayers who provide the funds for CIRM must be assured that the chair and vice chair are selected in an open, transparent process – not through a backroom deal or by default because a deal has fallen apart.”
CIRM directors are scheduled to meet on Wednesday to consider the choice for a chairman to replace Robert Klein, a Palo Alto real estate investment banker, whose term is expiring. The only other candidate besides Klein is Art Torres, one of two vice chairs at CIRM. However, Torres withdrew from the running last week, clearing the way for Klein to continue to serve.

Chiang's letter referred to the ruckus over Klein's attempt to hand pick his own successor. The move failed following reports of closed-door meetings and conflicts of interest. The flap attracted attention in the international stem cell community, attention that CIRM did not welcome.

Chiang, a Democrat, said he was strongly recommending that the CIRM board suspend the selection of the chair and vice chair and ask that the nominations be withdrawn. Chiang said,
“The first step in a new process should be for the (directors')Governance Subcommittee to have a full, public discussion of the necessary criteria for a new Chair. The first question the Board should examine is the role of the Chair of the ICOC and how it differs from the role of the President. While I understand that Proposition 71 provides for a unique, co-leadership model, it is critical from a good governance perspective that there is a clear delineation of duties and decision-making.

“What makes a governing board effective is long-term transparency and accountability. The ICOC's most important role - to provide independent oversight of CIRM management - is compromised when the ICOC chairman is essentially serving as the CIRM CEO.

“It also is important to keep in mind that the Chair is but one member of the ICOC Governing Board. Good governance must rely on the actions of the whole Board, not a single member. While the current structure may have been necessary as CIRM was in start-up mode, as the Institute moves into the next phase, it is important from a good governance perspective that it be driven by a fully participating oversight board rather than a single individual, regardless of how talented that individual may be.

“The ICOC has a responsibility to the taxpayers of California to conduct its business in an open and transparent manner. The most effective way the ICOC can assure the public that the Chair and Vice Chair selection process was fair and resulted in the best candidates is to restart the process in a transparent manner.”
The committee that Chiang heads is the only state entity that is charged legally with regularly examining the operations at CIRM.
State Controller Calls for Suspension of Stem Cell Agency Election

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

The Dark Side of Financing Stem Cell Research

Every day of the year, the California stem cell agency is racking up “hidden” costs of about $192,000. By the time CIRM gives away its allotted $3 billion, those “hidden” costs will soar to about $600,000 a day.

The expenses are the dark side of paying for scientific research with borrowed money – in this case California state bonds. That's what CIRM uses to pay the hundreds of researchers it is backing. The mechanism was set up five years ago, when voters approved Prop. 71, which created CIRM.

The cost of the bonds – interest on the borrowed money – is rarely, if ever, seen in CIRM's public documents. That's not much different, however, than other state agencies which use bond financing, such as the University of California. But the cost of state borrowing is attracting increased attention because of the state's $21 billion budget gap and draconian cuts in some areas of state services. Students at UC campuses are being forced to accept 32 percent tuition hikes at the same time CIRM is giving UC scientists $471 million.

Scores of stories have appeared in the last several weeks about the impact of borrowing on California's financial health. But a column by George Skelton of the Los Angeles Times caught our attention today. He focused on warnings by state Treasurer Bill Lockyer, the man who orchestrates the sale of state bonds. Skelton wrote,
“The state's credit card is about maxed out, the veteran Democratic office-holder warns. Payments on bond borrowing are becoming uncomfortably high, crowding out funds for universities, healthcare, parks -- and all the other government services being slashed these days.”
Skelton quoted Lockyer as saying the Golden State is “paying substantially more than Third World countries, er, emerging markets” for interest on its bonds.

That's because California has the lowest bond rating of any state in this country. Every $1 billion in bonds costs taxpayers $70 million a year, Skelton said. That translates to about $192,000 a day for the $1 billion in grants that CIRM has now approved.

Meanwhile the state has not kept up with its financial binging. Since 1999, the overall cost of interest on state bonds has skyrocketed 143 percent. General fund revenue, which pays those costs, has grown only 22 percent.

What does this sorry mess mean for CIRM? Probably the most serious impact is a less than warm environment in the Capitol should the stem cell agency ask lawmakers to remove the 50-person cap on the CIRM staff, which it seems likely to do. To win the required 70 percent approval from lawmakers, CIRM is likely to have to compromise on other proposals that it may not fancy.

The stem cell agency is only a flyspeck in the state's fiscal muddle. But it serves as an illustration of some of the state's more dubious political practices. One of which is ballot box budgeting – enactment of initiatives and approval of bonds with little attention to the long-term consequences.

However, unless something exceedingly unusual pops up, CIRM will continue with its programs, using borrowed money. CIRM's opponents may find fodder in all the concern about state borrowing. But even CIRM's most adamant supporters should understand the true cost of the effort to turn stem cells into cures.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Disease Team News Coverage, Irony and a 'Sinking' State

The California stem cell agency's $230 million disease team research effort, which boosted CIRM's spending beyond $1 billion, attracted moderate news coverage this morning and late yesterday.

Some publications, however, appeared to ignore the story entirely, including the Los Angeles Times and The Sacramento Bee, based on our Internet searches. The performance of the Times was particularly strange since more than $80 million is going to institutions in that area.

The San Francisco Chronicle published a page one story by Erin Allday, who listed all the approved programs and interviewed some scientists. She quoted CIRM director Jeff Sheehy as saying,
"These are not well-placed bets. These are carefully considered projects. We are not casually throwing away money hoping we'll get a cure at the end of the day. We're moving forward aggressively but with a rigorous review of science."
The Chronicle, New York Times, Nature and the San Diego Union-Tribune all noted that most of the disease team grants do not involve human embryonic stem cell research, which was the rallying cry for Prop. 71, the political device that created CIRM. Thomas Kupper of the San Diego paper called that fact ironic.

One sharp-tongued blogger, Wesley J. Smith of “Second Hand Smoke,” wrote,
“So, do I now think that the CIRM is peachy keen because it is beginning to support ethical stem cell research? No! I don’t care if the CIRM swore off ESCR for good. The state is sinking beneath the red ink waves. School funds are being cut, the UC system is a mess, health care is shriveling, and our state parks are only going to be open on weekends. The Bay Bridge is falling–literally–apart and other infrastructure is in trouble. We have debt past the horizon with no relief ship in sight. If the CIRM really wanted to help California, it would close up shop.”
On an industry blog, In Vivo, Alex Lash focused on Novocell, which will receive CIRM's first-ever loan for its research.

The Toronto Sun carried a small story. It appears that coverage was light in Canada and the United Kingdom, probably because the size of the grants involved there was relatively modest.

Here are our reports yesterday on the NY Times and Nature coverage.

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