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Archive for the ‘Stem Cell Therapy’ Category

Light Coverage of Cellular Dynamics IPO But One Exec Says It’s Good for Stem Cell Biz

Sunday, June 9th, 2013
A handful of media outlets today
carried stories about the public stock offering announced yesterday
by Cellular Dynamics International, Inc., a Wisconsin firm that will
benefit to the tune of $16 million-plus from the California stem cell agency.
Kathleen Gallagher of the Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel
described the company, founded by stem cell pioneer
Jamie Thomson, as in the business of making “fully functioning human cells in industrial quantities.”
Judy Newman of the Wisconsin State
Journal
in Madison, where the company is based, quoted Beth Donley,
chief executive of Stemina
Biomarker Discovery
, as saying,

“It can’t help but increase the
value of other stem cell companies.”

Thomson is a professor both at the
University of Wisconsin in Madison and at UC Santa Barbara, and we
queried Dennis Clegg, co-director of the Center for Stem Cell
Biology and Engineering at UC Santa Barbara, about the school's
ties to Cellular Dynamics, which hopes to take in $57 million in its public offering.
He replied in an email that Santa
Barbara has a collaboration with Cellular Dynamics and the University
of Wisconsin to develop a vision-restoring, stem-cell-based therapy
for people with advanced retinal diseases. That $900,000 effort is financed by the Foundation Fighting Blindness.
The California stem cell agency grant
to Cellular Dynamics is for work at the stem cell bank being created
at the Buck Institute in Novato, north of San Francisco.
The Milwaukee Business Journal and
Genomeweb also carried stories on the IPO.

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/iGlLbdQVr0Y/light-coverage-of-cellular-dynamics-ipo.html

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Pomeroy on Doing the Right Thing and Foster Care

Sunday, June 9th, 2013
Claire Pomeroy
CIRM photo
On Claire Pomeroy's last day as a
member of the governing board of the $3 billion California stem cell
agency, she also published an essay on the Huffington Post in which
she discussed fleeing from an abusive home at age 14.
Pomeroy, former vice chancellor and
dean of the medical school at UC Davis and now president of the Lasker Foundation in New York,  wrote last month,

“For some children, the uncertainty
of life on the street is better than certainty of violence at home.
It was for me. At age 14, I escaped from an abusive home with no
money, nowhere to go and only the clothes I was wearing. I remember
staring into the night, standing somewhere between fear and freedom.
I became one of the millions of homeless teens, yet I was lucky
because foster care ultimately saved me.”

“However, after an emergency
placement and three foster homes, the challenges were not over. At 17
I aged out of the foster care system early when my foster parents
moved out of state. On my own again, I had to find a job, a place to
live and finish high school. Then I climbed the next mountain to
graduate from college and medical school.”

Pomeroy said she only recently began
publicly talking about her foster care experience. She said she is
doing so because “many  people lack an understanding of
the harsh statistics and their impact on the country's future. The
nation faces a crisis that demands a call to action to start truly
caring about foster youth before it is too late.”
She said that she was “lucky” in the
foster care system but said that many children, particularly minorities among others such as the disabled, were not as fortunate and “were failed by the system and society.” Pomeroy called them
“throwaway children” who were “robbed of their ideals, gave up
hope and struggled to find a reason to live.”
Less than half of the foster children
who “age out” of the system graduate from high school, she wrote. Only 3
percent to 11 percent earn a bachelor's degree. More than
400,000 children were in foster care in 2011 and have a one in 11 chance
of being homeless.
Pomeroy called for expansion and
improvement of foster care across the country. “It is time to stop
forcing children to be the heroes of their own survival,” she
wrote. “Now is the time to do the right the right thing.”
------
On a personal note, we have four
grandchildren, one of whom was adopted out of foster care as a
toddler. The other was adopted at birth. Some of the siblings of
those two African-American children remain in foster care today.

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/zancriHTUC4/pomeroy-on-doing-right-thing-and-foster.html

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Sugar 1week post stem cell therapy – Video

Saturday, June 8th, 2013


Sugar 1week post stem cell therapy

By: Tim O #39;Neill, DVM

The rest is here:
Sugar 1week post stem cell therapy - Video

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Streak’s Before/After Stemlogix Stem Cell Therapy – Video

Saturday, June 8th, 2013


Streak #39;s Before/After Stemlogix Stem Cell Therapy
Check out Streak #39;s amazing Post Stemlogix Stem Cell Therapy progression video from day 1 to day 37 ! The day of the stem cell therapy Streak could barely wal...

By: Stemlogix, LLC

Visit link:
Streak's Before/After Stemlogix Stem Cell Therapy - Video

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Stem Cell Therapy- Victoria Hicks – Video

Saturday, June 8th, 2013


Stem Cell Therapy- Victoria Hicks

By: Victoria Hicks

Read more:
Stem Cell Therapy- Victoria Hicks - Video

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BBC iScience Stem Cell Therapy – Video

Friday, June 7th, 2013


BBC iScience Stem Cell Therapy
A fun, engaging and relevant programme, inspiring the viewer to consider the science within and how scientific process can be used to test ideas and develop theories, rather than just looking...

By: Lammas Science

View original post here:
BBC iScience Stem Cell Therapy - Video

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Mickey’s Before

Monday, June 3rd, 2013


Mickey #39;s Before After Stemlogix Stem Cell Therapy
Mickey, a 13 year old German Shepherd torn both of his ACLs and suffered from severe arthritis. Mickey has been treated with Stemlogix Stem Cell Therapy Platelet Max Platelet Rich Plasma...

By: Stemlogix, LLC

More:
Mickey's Before

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Stem Cell Therapy in Spinal Cord Injury – Video

Monday, June 3rd, 2013


Stem Cell Therapy in Spinal Cord Injury

By: Knowlege21

See the original post:
Stem Cell Therapy in Spinal Cord Injury - Video

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Fibroblast Growth Factor FGF Stem Cell Therapy – Video

Monday, June 3rd, 2013


Fibroblast Growth Factor FGF Stem Cell Therapy
Fibroblast Growth Factor Heals Heart Tissue by Feeding Stem Cells present.

By: David Dolores

Go here to read the rest:
Fibroblast Growth Factor FGF Stem Cell Therapy - Video

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Thumb Arthroscopy with Stem Cell Therapy – Video

Monday, June 3rd, 2013


Thumb Arthroscopy with Stem Cell Therapy
Hand surgeon Dr. Michael Fitzmaurice details the thumb arthroscopy procedure that he pioneered, involving an endoscopic approach and stem cell therapy (PRP) ...

By: Michael Fitzmaurice

See the original post here:
Thumb Arthroscopy with Stem Cell Therapy - Video

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Vatican Funding for California Stem Cell Agency?

Sunday, June 2nd, 2013
So what's with the Vatican sending cash
to the California stem cell agency? One would imagine that is an
improbable event since the agency is involved in human embryonic stem
cell research, which is an anathema to the Roman Catholic church.
However, CIRM President Alan Trounson
earlier this week disclosed the payment in an interview with Patt
Morrison
of the Los Angeles Times. He said,

“Last
year I was invited to the Vatican to
present a paper, but when I sent in a summary of what I was going to
say, they decided not to have it. They sent a check to the treasurer
of California and the treasurer rang us up and said, "What the
heck is this check from the Vatican for?" It was for the
inconvenience!”

We wanted to know a little more about
this so we queried the agency about the matter. Kevin McCormack, a
CIRM spokesman, said,

“The money was actually a wire
transfer from the Vatican to us for $453.23 and it went to CIRM's
account. It was to reimburse us for money spent on plane tickets,
etc., for Dr. Trounson to attend the Vatican conference on stem
cells.”   

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/bOQKBXJGmJ8/vatican-funding-for-california-stem.html

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Bluebird bio of Massachusetts Still Waiting for California Stem Cell Money

Sunday, June 2nd, 2013
Seven months after the California stem
cell agency awarded $9.4 million to bluebird bio of Cambridge, Mass.,
the company has yet to receive any of the cash from the Golden State.
Kevin McCormack, a spokesman for the $3
billion agency, this week said negotiations are still underway with
the bluebird, which is planning to go public,  but did not elaborate. Post-award negotiations are
common at the agency, but generally take much less time.
The cash from CIRM is scheduled to
assist in clinical trials for a stem cell-gene therapy to correct a genetic disease in young patients with B-thalassemia, a
rare blood disorder that can cause widespread organ damage
and premature death.
Earlier this month, bluebird bio, which
prefers the lower case lettering for its name, announced that it
intends to take the company public in an $86 million offering. In
March, it announced a collaboration with Celgene that provided for an upfront payment of $75 million and promised up to $225 million per
product in potential option fees and clinical and regulatory
milestones. The CIRM grant is conditioned on a matching commitment
from bluebird.
Cash from the stem cell agency can only
be spent on operations within California. According to the CIRM summary of the review of the bluebird application, which was scored
at 73, the company said,

“We will have at least two clinical
sites in California, and more likely up to 4 sites, 2) our viral
vector manufacturing will occur in California, 3) our cell processing
will occur in California, 4) we will hire several consultants and
full-time employees within California to support the program.
Overall, several million dollars will be spent employing the services
of people, academic institutions, and other companies within the
state of California.”

The company has said that it is working
with Donald Kohn at UCLA and Elliot Vichinsky at Oakland's Children's
Hospital.
The bluebird web site lists a
California location for bluebird at 1001 Bayhill Dr, Suite 200, in
San Bruno, which is south of San Francisco. An Internet search
indicates that is a generic address for a number of business
including a realty firm, a roof repair business and a family law
attorney. The California Stem Cell Report has asked bluebird to
clarify the nature of the address.
In an interview last October with Ron Leuty of the
San Francisco Business Times, David Davidson, the lead scientist on
the project, said,

“We began the process (with CIRM)
early in (2012) but discussions have been going on for over a year
about potentially pursuing this.

“The interaction with CIRM has been
extraordinarily collaborative. We had contact with the coordinators
at CIRM that helped us manage the process. It took a lot of effort on
our part to put together a dossier providing support for our program.
It was really like a mini-regulatory filing — on the science, the
preclinical toxicology work that we’ve done, a detailed plan for
the trial, a detailed plan for the budgets, a detailed plan on how we
intended to spend the CIRM money in California. That was an important
part of it. They wanted a clear plan on how this investment would be
spent."

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/zR-Ht90u_7o/bluebird-bio-of-massachusetts-still.html

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Monterey Newspaper Chides California Stem Cell Agency

Sunday, June 2nd, 2013
The California stem cell agency and its
former chairman, Robert Klein, came under sharp criticism this week
in an editorial in the Monterey County Herald newspaper.
The editorial cited articles on the
California Stem Cell Report dealing with a $21,630 gift by Klein to
the agency, his employment of the vice chairman of the agency and the
violation of the agency's conflict of interest policies by a grant reviewer.
The editorial was headlined "State Stem Cell Agency Still Up to Old Tricks." The piece said,

“Robert Klein is no longer chairman
of California's stem cell bureaucracy, but it is still doing things
his way. Which is too bad for all concerned.

“Klein is the former developer and
financier who wrote and sponsored the ballot measure that created the
California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. The ballot language
practically guaranteed he would be the chairman, and he ran the
agency the way he ran his businesses, using undisclosed side deals
and other machinations to create webs that outsiders could never
penetrate.

“Now, Klein has been replaced as
chairman, but he is still up to his old tricks.”

The editorial concluded,

“Much has been said about the agency
setting a new more straightforward direction now that Klein is gone,
but so far it seems to be following a twisting and expensive path
toward irrelevance and litigation.”

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/SGmn7k9T1Vw/monterey-newspaper-chides-california.html

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$70 Million Alpha Stem Cell Clinic Proposal Draws Reader Comment

Sunday, June 2nd, 2013
In addition to the comments filed online in connection with the $70 million proposal to create Alpha Clinics in California for stem cell treatments,  two other readers commented privately in emails. 
One came from a close observer of the
stem cell agency who said, “If done right -- and I'm sure you and I
agree that is a big 'if' – it could be an outstanding legacy.”
The other comment came from a
physician-researcher at a major California institution and was longer
and more critical. Here is the text.

“Another boondoggle for some medical
schools but made to order for private operators like for profit
cancer, dialysis, and laser eye specialty clinics that do one
procedure.  I can see each of the medical schools gifted with
one as they each were gifted with about 25 million dollars for stem
cell institute buildings; and CIRM and (Irv) Weissman's companies
like Stem Cells, Inc., getting a piece of the action as well.  Of
course the deans and chancellors on the CIRM steering committee will
vote for it. How can they not? It's money in their pockets.

“This has the fit and feel of, say,
old Latin American Laetrile clinics or offshore clinics offering
suspect surgeries or injections for cancers, Parkinson's disease, and
the like.  It makes no difference that they are set up in
California.  CIRM will pay for an unneeded infrastructure that
will be empty space and staff sitting on their hands 99% of the
time.  Or worse yet, CIRM will pay but the space will be used
for other things, other clinic procedures paid for by insurance.  

“Now (CIRM President Alan) Trounson and
CIRM want to get into the medical tourism business making California
a 'go-to place' for stem cell treatments.  They want to start
with bone marrow injections and transplants, procedures that cancer
centers do regularly.  All CIRM needs is a drug or treatment. 
It's not like there are tons of drugs out there and the only barrier
is the lack of clinical space and capacity.  The start up time
for any one drug is very long.

“NIH at various times has tried to
organize clinical trials groups with infrastructure, like quick
reaction forces, ready to gear up for a new trial at the drop of a
hat. They mainly did nothing but suck money, kept staff employed,
because there are generally few drugs ready for early human trials
and each treatment that is brought along requires a unique contract,
ethics reviews, and different facilities, equipment and staff than
planned for.  The latest incarnation are CTSAs or CTSIs,
clinical and translational science centers funded by the federal NIH
that most if not all California medical schools already have.

“The CIRM clinics are going to be
generic stem cell clinics advancing California tourism.  Come to
California, we will inject stem cells for any illness, in any part of
your body, never mind that cancer is different from heart disease is
different from bone disease is different from brain disease, no
matter.  Next step is for CIRM to form a travel agency with
discounted air and Ritz Carlton packages for patients and extended
family non-stop from China.  There is likely considerable
revenue to be generated here and Trounson, Weissman, and (Robert)
Klein
(former CIRM chairman) should find a way to benefit. It sounds
so wonderful!!  The public will love it.  Now all they need
are some treatments.  Love the name: Alpha Clinics, they
wouldn't want to start with Beta test clinics when they can go big
from the get-go.  What an irresponsible waste.”    

The other comments can be found at the end of the original item or in the column to the right of this item, headed "recent comments."

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/nKbicxl9mzA/70-million-alpha-stem-cell-clinic.html

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California’s Alpha Stem Cell Clinics: Open in 2014, Six to Eight Locations

Sunday, June 2nd, 2013
The San Francisco Business Times
yesterday said that the first Alpha Clinic sponsored by the $3
billion California stem cell agency could open as early as 2014.
The timing was disclosed by CIRM
President Alan Trounson in an article by Ron Leuty, who also reported
that that Trounson's $70 million proposal (see here and here) would involve as many as
six to eight clinics. The locations of the clinics was not disclosed
and would be subject to a competitive RFA. However, Leuty's piece
mentioned UC San Francisco and Stanford.
The article also said initial
treatments might focus on eye disease, “brain therapies” and
spinal cord injuries.
The Alpha Clinic plan is scheduled to
come before the CIRM board in late July. The proposal is aimed at
speeding stem cell treatments and creating something of a one-stop
shopping experience for patients.

Once the CIRM board approves the
concept, an RFA will be issued and interested institutions will have
to submit bids and compete for funding.  

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/So_NOlmLU2E/californias-alpha-stem-cell-clinics.html

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Trounson Proposes $70 Million, Fast-Track Stem Cell Clinic Plan for California

Sunday, June 2nd, 2013
Alan Trounson, president of the
California stem cell agency, this summer plans to seek $70 million
for creation of what he calls Alpha Clinics, high-powered
organizations that will fast-track stem cell therapies to patients.
The proposal is scheduled to come
before CIRM board at its meeting in late July and would consume a
significant slice of the $700 million to $800 million that the $3
billion agency has left to hand out.
Trounson broached the need for the
clinics as far back as two years ago, but did not put a price tag on
the concept until an interview published online late today in the Los
Angeles Times
. The interview will be carried in the print edition of
the paper tomorrow.
In the Q&A session between Times
columnist Patt Morrison and Trounson, he said, 

"I'm intending to set up a network of
stem cell clinics in California in the next couple of years, to make
treatments available as clinical trials or as registered treatments
for patients. I'm going to ask the [CIRM] board for about $70 million
to get that set up. It will make California a go-to place for stem
cell therapies. I want to make sure it's part of our medical fabric."

In other media reports in previous
years, Trounson has said the Alpha Clinics would speed delivery of
stem cell-based therapies and reduce costs of clinical trials by
building on the success of specialist cancer, transplant and in-vitro
fertilization clinics.
Leigh Dayton wrote about Trounson's
plan in The Australian last July 14. Dayton said,

“Initially the clinics would use the
capacities and infrastructure in the most advanced university medical
clinics to deliver bone-marrow stem cell therapies. As research
evolves, so will the treatments and services offered.”

Trounson also discussed the Alpha
Clinics during an appearance at USC in 2011. A university publication wrote,

"These clinics will initially serve
to get patients into clinical trials or to offer sound advice to
individuals who might otherwise go overseas to receive harmful stem
cell therapies from disreputable clinics.

"'I’m willing to invest money to
get these [clinics] up,' Trounson said. 'I think if nothing happens
beyond 2017 and we don’t get any refunding, we can leave a
footprint of stem cell clinics in California that will go on
forever.'"

Trounson was not at last week's CIRM
board meeting, but Ellen Feigal, senior vice president for research
and development, said a white paper is being prepared on Alpha
Clinics. She said a concept proposal would be brought to the board
July 25 at a meeting in the San Francisco Bay Area. Once the board
approves the concept, the staff will then prepare and post the RFA.

Interested parties can address
suggestions or questions to Feigal at info@cirm.ca.gov.

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/lND8J7NKqzc/trounson-proposes-70-million-fast-track.html

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Sacramento Bee: Ongoing Conflict Problems No Help for Future Funding of Stem Cell Agency

Sunday, June 2nd, 2013
The Sacramento Bee says conflict of
interest problems continue to trouble the California stem cell agency
despite its assertions that it has “turned a page” on the issues.
In an editorial Saturday, The Bee said
that CIRM Chairman Jonathan Thomas “has vowed to be aggressive in
avoiding conflicts in dispersing millions of public dollars for stem
cell research. Yet serious conflicts continue to be
revealed involving CIRM.”
The Bee cited articles on the
California Stem Cell Report earlier this month about a $21,630 gift
by its former chairman, Robert Klein, and the employment by Klein of
Vice Chairman Art Torres. The Bee said the situation “throws
into question a $20 million grant awarded last year to StemCells
Inc.
, a company that wants to transplant neural stem
cells to treat Alzheimer's
disease.” (See herehere and here)
The Bee also cited the case of Lee
Hood
, an internationally renown scientist who violated the agency's conflict of interest policy. Hood failed to disclose to CIRM a
conflict involving an application that he was reviewing on behalf of
the agency. The Bee said the agency's failure to detect the conflict
was “serious oversight."
Eight readers commented on the
editorial and agency, generally unfavorably about CIRM.
But reader “bchild” said,

“It took a couple years for them to start funding projects and it may take years to see results. Wall
Street got 1.5 trillion and the promise of 10x that if they get
into trouble again, the scientists (and their business buds) just
want a couple billion...In the end who do you trust more with
public money? At least there is the appearance of public benefit
here..."

The Bee concluded,

“None of this helps CIRM's reputation
in being fair and impartial in spending $3 billion in public funds.
It surely won't help the institute's standing with the Legislature
and the public, should it need help staying in operation when its
funding is exhausted in a few years.”

The editorial was also carried by at least one other paper in the McClatchy chain.

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/BZeSccFCbBU/sacramento-bee-ongoing-conflict.html

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Bluebird bio of Massachusetts Still Waiting for California Stem Cell Money

Sunday, June 2nd, 2013
Seven months after the California stem
cell agency awarded $9.4 million to bluebird bio of Cambridge, Mass.,
the company has yet to receive any of the cash from the Golden State.
Kevin McCormack, a spokesman for the $3
billion agency, this week said negotiations are still underway with
the bluebird, which is planning to go public,  but did not elaborate. Post-award negotiations are
common at the agency, but generally take much less time.
The cash from CIRM is scheduled to
assist in clinical trials for a stem cell-gene therapy to correct a genetic disease in young patients with B-thalassemia, a
rare blood disorder that can cause widespread organ damage
and premature death.
Earlier this month, bluebird bio, which
prefers the lower case lettering for its name, announced that it
intends to take the company public in an $86 million offering. In
March, it announced a collaboration with Celgene that provided for an upfront payment of $75 million and promised up to $225 million per
product in potential option fees and clinical and regulatory
milestones. The CIRM grant is conditioned on a matching commitment
from bluebird.
Cash from the stem cell agency can only
be spent on operations within California. According to the CIRM summary of the review of the bluebird application, which was scored
at 73, the company said,

“We will have at least two clinical
sites in California, and more likely up to 4 sites, 2) our viral
vector manufacturing will occur in California, 3) our cell processing
will occur in California, 4) we will hire several consultants and
full-time employees within California to support the program.
Overall, several million dollars will be spent employing the services
of people, academic institutions, and other companies within the
state of California.”

The company has said that it is working
with Donald Kohn at UCLA and Elliot Vichinsky at Oakland's Children's
Hospital.
The bluebird web site lists a
California location for bluebird at 1001 Bayhill Dr, Suite 200, in
San Bruno, which is south of San Francisco. An Internet search
indicates that is a generic address for a number of business
including a realty firm, a roof repair business and a family law
attorney. The California Stem Cell Report has asked bluebird to
clarify the nature of the address.
In an interview last October with Ron Leuty of the
San Francisco Business Times, David Davidson, the lead scientist on
the project, said,

“We began the process (with CIRM)
early in (2012) but discussions have been going on for over a year
about potentially pursuing this.

“The interaction with CIRM has been
extraordinarily collaborative. We had contact with the coordinators
at CIRM that helped us manage the process. It took a lot of effort on
our part to put together a dossier providing support for our program.
It was really like a mini-regulatory filing — on the science, the
preclinical toxicology work that we’ve done, a detailed plan for
the trial, a detailed plan for the budgets, a detailed plan on how we
intended to spend the CIRM money in California. That was an important
part of it. They wanted a clear plan on how this investment would be
spent."

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/zR-Ht90u_7o/bluebird-bio-of-massachusetts-still.html

Read More...

Vatican Funding for California Stem Cell Agency?

Sunday, June 2nd, 2013
So what's with the Vatican sending cash
to the California stem cell agency? One would imagine that is an
improbable event since the agency is involved in human embryonic stem
cell research, which is an anathema to the Roman Catholic church.
However, CIRM President Alan Trounson
earlier this week disclosed the payment in an interview with Patt
Morrison
of the Los Angeles Times. He said,

“Last
year I was invited to the Vatican to
present a paper, but when I sent in a summary of what I was going to
say, they decided not to have it. They sent a check to the treasurer
of California and the treasurer rang us up and said, "What the
heck is this check from the Vatican for?" It was for the
inconvenience!”

We wanted to know a little more about
this so we queried the agency about the matter. Kevin McCormack, a
CIRM spokesman, said,

“The money was actually a wire
transfer from the Vatican to us for $453.23 and it went to CIRM's
account. It was to reimburse us for money spent on plane tickets,
etc., for Dr. Trounson to attend the Vatican conference on stem
cells.”   

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/bOQKBXJGmJ8/vatican-funding-for-california-stem.html

Read More...

$70 Million Alpha Stem Cell Clinic Proposal Draws Reader Comment

Sunday, June 2nd, 2013
In addition to the comments filed online in connection with the $70 million proposal to create Alpha Clinics in California for stem cell treatments,  two other readers commented privately in emails. 
One came from a close observer of the
stem cell agency who said, “If done right -- and I'm sure you and I
agree that is a big 'if' – it could be an outstanding legacy.”
The other comment came from a
physician-researcher at a major California institution and was longer
and more critical. Here is the text.

“Another boondoggle for some medical
schools but made to order for private operators like for profit
cancer, dialysis, and laser eye specialty clinics that do one
procedure.  I can see each of the medical schools gifted with
one as they each were gifted with about 25 million dollars for stem
cell institute buildings; and CIRM and (Irv) Weissman's companies
like Stem Cells, Inc., getting a piece of the action as well.  Of
course the deans and chancellors on the CIRM steering committee will
vote for it. How can they not? It's money in their pockets.

“This has the fit and feel of, say,
old Latin American Laetrile clinics or offshore clinics offering
suspect surgeries or injections for cancers, Parkinson's disease, and
the like.  It makes no difference that they are set up in
California.  CIRM will pay for an unneeded infrastructure that
will be empty space and staff sitting on their hands 99% of the
time.  Or worse yet, CIRM will pay but the space will be used
for other things, other clinic procedures paid for by insurance.  

“Now (CIRM President Alan) Trounson and
CIRM want to get into the medical tourism business making California
a 'go-to place' for stem cell treatments.  They want to start
with bone marrow injections and transplants, procedures that cancer
centers do regularly.  All CIRM needs is a drug or treatment. 
It's not like there are tons of drugs out there and the only barrier
is the lack of clinical space and capacity.  The start up time
for any one drug is very long.

“NIH at various times has tried to
organize clinical trials groups with infrastructure, like quick
reaction forces, ready to gear up for a new trial at the drop of a
hat. They mainly did nothing but suck money, kept staff employed,
because there are generally few drugs ready for early human trials
and each treatment that is brought along requires a unique contract,
ethics reviews, and different facilities, equipment and staff than
planned for.  The latest incarnation are CTSAs or CTSIs,
clinical and translational science centers funded by the federal NIH
that most if not all California medical schools already have.

“The CIRM clinics are going to be
generic stem cell clinics advancing California tourism.  Come to
California, we will inject stem cells for any illness, in any part of
your body, never mind that cancer is different from heart disease is
different from bone disease is different from brain disease, no
matter.  Next step is for CIRM to form a travel agency with
discounted air and Ritz Carlton packages for patients and extended
family non-stop from China.  There is likely considerable
revenue to be generated here and Trounson, Weissman, and (Robert)
Klein
(former CIRM chairman) should find a way to benefit. It sounds
so wonderful!!  The public will love it.  Now all they need
are some treatments.  Love the name: Alpha Clinics, they
wouldn't want to start with Beta test clinics when they can go big
from the get-go.  What an irresponsible waste.”    

The other comments can be found at the end of the original item or in the column to the right of this item, headed "recent comments."

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/nKbicxl9mzA/70-million-alpha-stem-cell-clinic.html

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