StemCell Therapy

A blue-ribbon Institute of Medicine panel is broadening its reach in its examination of the performance of the $3 billion California stem cell agency.

The group will hold a one-day public hearing next Tuesday at UC Irvine that will include independent perspectives along with comments from biotech firms, some of which have been unhappy with the paucity of CIRM funding for industry. The IOM has additionally expanded its efforts to generate responses to its questionnaires to include rejected applicants and the general public.

The hearing is the last public session scheduled in California and will be audiocast on the Internet. The IOM's fourth and final public session is scheduled for some time later this year with release of the full report in November. The stem cell agency is paying the IOM $700,000 to conduct the study. The public sessions so far have been taken up with testimony from recipients of CIRM largesse or from employees or directors of the agency.

The list of independent witnesses next week includes Stuart Drown, executive director of the state's good government agency, the Little Hoover Commission, which conducted a lengthy study of the stem cell agency. Also on tap are others including:

• Ruth Holton-Hodson, California deputy state controller, and who deals with CIRM issues for the state controller, who chairs the only state body officially charged with overseeing the agency.
• Marcy Darnovsky, associate executive director of the Center for Genetics and Society in Berkeley, an organization that has been critical of CIRM
• David Jensen, publisher of the California Stem Cell Report, which has posted more than 3,000 items on the agency since 2004 in addition to a number of freelance articles. 

The IOM has widened its efforts to secure comments from persons who cannot appear at its hearings. At the IOM's request, CIRM sent emails about the questionnaires to the 4,039 persons who have asked the agency to be notified about its RFAs. Recipients were asked by CIRM to complete the IOM surveys.

The online forms are due by April 23. Here are links in the various categories:  general public, CIRM investigators,CIRM industry partners, leadership from CIRM-funded institutions, technology transfer professionals,CIRM's international collaborators, members of the Independent Citizens' Oversight Committee (the CIRM governing board), and investigators not funded by CIRM.

The IOM said access to the Internet audiocast of the meeting can be gained on April 10 through this web page.

Source:
http://californiastemcellreport.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

SAN FRANCISCO – A proposed $17.9 million operational budget for the California stem cell agency has cleared a key hurdle despite objections concerning the addition of another attorney to its $2.4 million annual legal effort.

The spending plan was approved yesterday by the CIRM directors' Finance Subcommittee on an 8-0 vote. The proposal is 7.2 percent higher than spending for the current fiscal year, which ends in June. The agency by law operates with a stringent budget cap of 6 percent of its bond funding.

Most of the budget goes for salaries at the agency, which has slightly more than 50 employees. The agency spends $8.4 million annually administering its 400-plus grants and developing new grant programs.

The proposal to add another lawyer to its staff drew fire from CIRM Co-vice chairman Art Torres. He asked why the agency wanted to spend more money for "a lawyer we don't need."

CIRM President Alan Trounson and CIRM General Counsel Elona Baum defended the plan, saying another lawyer was needed to deal with intellectual property and research commercialization issues. They said that grantee institutions and businesses are not dealing with the legal ramifications in a satisfactory manner.

Trounson said the agency would be "at risk" if it did not have control of the legal issues.

Torres brought up a memo on the subject, which he said did not justify the addition of a lawyer. Other directors said they had not seen the memo and asked for copies. The California Stem Cell Report has also asked for a copy.

Michael Goldberg, a venture capitalist and chair of the Finance Subcommittee, asked CIRM staff and a handful of directors to resolve the matter between now and the end of May, when the budget is expected to be approved by the full board.

Currently CIRM has five attorneys on staff, not including directors who are lawyers. The budget for the internal legal operation is $1.3 million annually. The rest of the $2.4 million goes for contracted services, including the firm of Remcho, Johansen & Purcell of San Leandro, Ca., a highly regarded political and governmentally oriented law firm that is budgeted for as much as $650,000 for the coming year, down from $695,000 this year. Another attorney is also on contract for $250,000, down from $325,000 this year.

CIRM budget documents projected savings in $190,000 in legal costs from the current year that could be used to help hire another attorney. The total legal costs for next year are budgeted at $2.44 million, compared to $2.39 million for the current year.

Source:
http://californiastemcellreport.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

SAN FRANCISCO -- The California stem cell agency scored during the weekend in a front page story in the San Francisco Chronicle that heralded a possible cancer treatment involving a "don't-eat-me-molecule."

The piece by Victoria Colliver said,

"In a potential breakthrough for cancer research, Stanford immunologists discovered they can shrink or even get rid of a wide range of human cancers by treating them with a single antibody."

The story was played prominently on the Chronicle front page on Saturday. However, the stem cell agency and its funding role was not mentioned until the last paragraph of the story. Nonetheless, on Saturday night, the Chronicle website reported that it was the most read and most emailed story on its site at that time.

When we looked at the story that evening, the article had 84 comments from readers, including several which praised the agency for its work. One reader noted, however, that other funding agencies were involved besides the California stem cell agency. The reader quoted from the Stanford press release, which said,

"This work was supported by the Joseph & Laurie Lacob Gynecologic/Ovarian Cancer Fund, the Jim & Carolyn Pride Fund, the Virginia & D.K. Ludwig Fund for Cancer Research, the Weston Havens Foundation, the National Cancer Institute, the Department of Defense, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine and anonymous donors."

Stanford's news release said,

"It is the first antibody treatment shown to be broadly effective against a variety of human solid tumors, and the dramatic response — including some overt cures in the laboratory animals — has the investigators eager to begin phase-1 and –2 human clinical trials within the next two years."

The Los Angeles Times also carried a story last week on the research, but did not mention CIRM. The agency itself wrote about the research on its blog.

CIRM Chairman J.T. Thomas and other CIRM directors have been concerned about the lack of coverage in the mainstream media – particularly favorable coverage – of the agency's work. When this writer was at a meeting yesterday afternoon at CIRM headquarters in San Francisco, Thomas pointedly presented a copy of the Chronicle front page, suggesting the article was worthy of note. Thomas is correct; the piece can certainly be counted as a favorable mention of the $3 billion research effort. Now it is up to CIRM and its new communications director, Kevin McCormack, who began work on Monday, to multiply the Chronicle piece many times over.

Source:
http://californiastemcellreport.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

The California stem cell agency has issued a statement from its president, Alan Trounson, concerning the cancellation of a Vatican stem cell conference at which Trounson was scheduled to speak.

According to the Catholic News Agency, the meeting was terminated because of the scheduled appearances of researchers such as Trounson, who support hESC research. The Catholic church opposes such research.

The news agency last week quoted one Vatican insider as saying the conference had generated a scandal within the higher echelons of the church. However, the Vatican later claimed it was cancelling the meeting because of "organizational, logistical and economic factors."

Trounson's statement said,

"I am disappointed that the decision was made to cancel the conference because it offered the opportunity for a constructive dialogue on all types of stem cell research.

"Open dialogue can enhance the field as a whole and accelerate our efforts to provide new therapies for patients in need."

Source:
http://californiastemcellreport.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

The proposed $17.8 million operational budget for the California stem cell agency will receive more public scrutiny at a meeting next week in San Francisco, with additional public participation sites ranging from Boston to La Jolla.

The spending plan for 2012-13 is 7.2 percent higher than the estimated expenditures for the current year. By law, CIRM's budget is not subject to cuts by the legislature or the governor, who are trying to find solutions to the state's ongoing financial crisis.

Next week's hearing will be the last before approval of the budget in late May by the directors of the $3 billion research program. No significant changes are expected from the document to be presented on Monday.

Public sites where the public can participate in the CIRM directors' Finance Subcommittee meeting include South San Francisco, Stanford, Berkeley and Boston. You can find more information about the specific locations on the meeting agenda, but if you are interested in attending you need even more details from CIRM prior to the actual meeting. Email a request to info@cirm.ca.gov.

Source:
http://californiastemcellreport.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

The California stem cell agency has issued a statement from its president, Alan Trounson, concerning the cancellation of a Vatican stem cell conference at which Trounson was scheduled to speak.

According to the Catholic News Agency, the meeting was terminated because of the scheduled appearances of researchers such as Trounson, who support hESC research. The Catholic church opposes such research.

The news agency last week quoted one Vatican insider as saying the conference had generated a scandal within the higher echelons of the church. However, the Vatican later claimed it was cancelling the meeting because of "organizational, logistical and economic factors."

Trounson's statement said,

"I am disappointed that the decision was made to cancel the conference because it offered the opportunity for a constructive dialogue on all types of stem cell research.

"Open dialogue can enhance the field as a whole and accelerate our efforts to provide new therapies for patients in need."

Source:
http://californiastemcellreport.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

The proposed $17.8 million operational budget for the California stem cell agency will receive more public scrutiny at a meeting next week in San Francisco, with additional public participation sites ranging from Boston to La Jolla.

The spending plan for 2012-13 is 7.2 percent higher than the estimated expenditures for the current year. By law, CIRM's budget is not subject to cuts by the legislature or the governor, who are trying to find solutions to the state's ongoing financial crisis.

Next week's hearing will be the last before approval of the budget in late May by the directors of the $3 billion research program. No significant changes are expected from the document to be presented on Monday.

Public sites where the public can participate in the CIRM directors' Finance Subcommittee meeting include South San Francisco, Stanford, Berkeley and Boston. You can find more information about the specific locations on the meeting agenda, but if you are interested in attending you need even more details from CIRM prior to the actual meeting. Email a request to info@cirm.ca.gov.

Source:
http://californiastemcellreport.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

Is your child about to lose her milk tooth? Instead of throwing it away, you can now opt to use it to harvest stem cells in a dental stem cell bank for future use in the face of serious ailments. Now thats a tooth fairy story coming to life.

Still relatively new in India, dental stem cell banking is fast gaining popularity as a more viable option over umbilical cord blood banking.

Stem cell therapy involves a kind of intervention strategy in which healthy, new cells are introduced into a damaged tissue to treat a disease or an injury.

The umbilical cord is a good source for blood-related cells, or hemaotopoietic cells, which can be used for blood-related diseases, like leukaemia (blood cancer). Having said that, blood-related disorders constitute only four percent of all diseases, Shailesh Gadre, founder and managing director of the company Stemade Biotech, said.

For the rest of the 96 percent tissue-related diseases, the tooth is a good source of mesenchymal (tissue-related) stem cells. These cells have potential application in all other tissues of the body, for instance, the brain, in case of diseases like Alzheimers and Parkinsons; the eye (corneal reconstruction), liver (cirrhosis), pancreas (diabetes), bone (fractures, reconstruction), skin and the like, he said.

Mesenchymal cells can also be used to regenerate cardiac cells.

Dental stem cell banking also has an advantage when it comes to the process of obtaining stem cells.

Obtaining stem cells from the tooth is a non-invasive procedure that requires no surgery, with little or no pain. A child, in the age group of 5-12, is any way going to lose his milk tooth. So when its a little shaky, it can be collected with hardly any discomfort, Savita Menon, a pedodontist, said.

Moreover, in a number of cases, when an adolescent needs braces, the doctor recommends that his pre-molars be removed. These can also be used as a source for stem cells. And over and above that, an adults wisdom tooth can also be used for the same purpose, Gadre added.

Therefore, unlike umbilical cord blood banking which gives one just one chance - during birth - the window of opportunity in dental stem cell banking is much bigger.

Read more:
Your child’s milk tooth can save her life

28-03-2012 10:17 Dr Joshua Hare is Professor of Medicine and Director of the Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute at the University of Miami. The interview was conducted on 25 March 2012 at the American College of Cardiology's (ACC's) 61st Annual Scientific Session & Expo in Chicago. See more ACC.12 Coverage: http://www.getinsidehealth.com

Continue reading here:
Stem cell therapy for the repair of myocardium in heart failure patients - Video

HYDERABAD: Lack of legislation and awareness coupled with quality and ethical Issues has been deterrent to the growth of stem cell therapy sector in India, where the bio-tech market is expected to achieve a market size of $ 8 billion by 2015, according to a report by the Yes bank.

Special provisions such as 10-year tax benefits, duty exemptions, fast tracking the approval process by giving it a status of orphan drug (as done in the US) are some measures which could be very helpful to become leaders in this sector, the report 'Stem Cells--an emerging Bio-sector' suggested.

"The legislation for this sector still is at the draft stage. A regulatory framework governing the sector, instead of the guidelines existing at present is essential for the proper growth of stem cell research and applications in India. There are also no guidelines regarding pricing which results in certain unproven injections being sold for around Rs 80,000," the report said.

Several companies are taking advantage of the lack of laws governing the stem cell segment and advertise their therapies and clinical trials as ICMR approved.

However, given the multi-tiered system of registration and approvals recommended in the ICMR's guidelines, some of these are based on fraudulent or exaggerated claims. Further, there are also ethical worries on the side-effects of such treatment, it further said.

In India, there are very few players in the stem cell sector and these are all in very nascent stages and industry consolidation with global players entering into the market through mergers and acquisition route could propel industry growth, it opined.

Continued here:
Stem cell segment in India to touch $8 billion mark by 2015: Report

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - A few weeks ago, we told you the story of Maggie, the 13-year-old Boykin Spaniel who was suffering from arthritis.

Maggie is enjoying life once again thanks to a new type of surgery. The dog received stem cell therapy surgery six weeks ago.

Doctors were able to use adult stem cells from Maggie's blood and fat samples to collect repair cells. They then took the cells and repaired the dog's arthritic spine.

Maggie's owner, Beth Phibbs, says she could tell the dog had been in pain.

"You could tell she didn't feel well, but yet now she is like she's 5 and she's 13. She just runs out and she plays. I think she knows. She can feel the difference," Phibbs said.

The surgery costs about $2,000, but Medi-vet America says this costs about half as much as the older treatments.

Previous Story:

Copyright 2012 WIS. All rights reserved.

Read the original:
Stem cell therapy for 13-year-old dog helps with its arthritis

March 27, 2012

According to a new study, using a patients own bone marrow may help repair damaged areas of the heart caused by heart failure.

Researchers found that left ventricular ejection fraction increased by 2.7 percent in patients who received stem cell therapy.

The study, which was presented at the American College of Cardiologys 61st Annual Scientific Session, revealed that the improvement in ejection fraction correlated with the number of CD34+ and CD133+ cells in the bone marrow.

This is the kind of information we need in order to move forward with the clinical use of stem cell therapy, Emerson Perin, MD, PhD, director of clinical research for cardiovascular medicine at the Texas Heart Institute and the studys lead investigator, said at the event.

The study included 92 patients who were randomly selected to receive stem cell treatment or placebo. The patients all had chronic ischemic heart disease and an ejection fraction of less than 45 percent along with heart failure.

Doctors placed a catheter in the hearts left ventricle to inject 3 ccs, or 100 million stem cells, into an average of 15 sites of the stem cell patients hearts.

The doctors used electromechanical mapping of the heart to measure the voltage in areas of the heart muscle and create a real-time image of the heart.

With this mapping procedure, we have a roadmap to the heart muscle, said Dr. Perin. Were very careful about where we inject the cells; electromechanical mapping allows us to target the cell injections to viable areas of the heart.

The trial was designed to determine whether left ventricular end systolic volume and myocardial oxygen consumption improved in patients who received stem cell treatment.

See more here:
Cell Therapy Improves Damaged Heart In Study

Columbia, SC (WLTX) --What if your pet couldn't walk anymore? One Midlands vet is using stem cell therapy to help.

For Beth Phibbs it's almost like a turning back of the hands of time.

"I call her my little miracle dog, because she's doing things she used to do," said Phibbs. "Now she's not on any medication, and she can go up and down the steps and she runs and jumps and things that she used to do when she was five."

Phibbs has spent the last 13 years loving and looking after her pet dog Maggie, and when she pet began to develop arthritis and a limp she had to take action. But when the first treatments stopped working, Phibbs and Maggie had to look to another options, dog stem cell therapy.

"I had no idea that animals were able to have they type of procedures," she said.

Dr. Kenneth Banks a veterinarian with the Bank Animal Hospital, performed the surgery for Maggie using her own stem cells in the one day procedure.

Banks said the stem cell therapy not only cost less than some other options, but was less invasive and had a quicker recovery time as well.

Still with about three similar procedures under his belt, even he didn't expect to see a such change in maggie just 40 days after the surgery.

"I wasn't sure we were gonna get the results this fast, we were expecting results, maybe not a good as she's done. We're real happy with her results," said Banks.

Now, after three years on medication and walking with a limp, Maggie's getting used to a new way of life -- one with out pain in her golden years.

Original post:
Midlands Vet Uses Stem Cell Therapy for Pets in Pain

Public release date: 24-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Beth Casteel bcasteel@acc.org 240-328-4549 American College of Cardiology

CHICAGO -- A new study found that using a patient's own bone marrow cells may help repair damaged areas of the heart caused by heart failure, according to research presented today at the American College of Cardiology's 61st Annual Scientific Session. The Scientific Session, the premier cardiovascular medical meeting, brings cardiovascular professionals together to further advances in the field.

Millions of Americans suffer from heart failure, the weakening of the heart muscle and its inability to pump blood effectively throughout the body. If medications, surgery, or stents fail to control the disease, doctors often have few treatment options to offer.

This is the largest study to date to look at stem cell therapy, using a patient's own stem cells, to repair damaged areas of the heart in patients with chronic ischemic heart disease and left ventricular dysfunction. Researchers found that left ventricular ejection fraction (the percentage of blood leaving the heart's main pumping chamber) increased by a small but significant amount (2.7 percent) in patients who received stem cell therapy. The study also revealed that the improvement in ejection fraction correlated with the number of CD34+ and CD133+ cells in the bone marrow information that will be helpful in evaluating and designing future therapies and trials.

"This is the kind of information we need in order to move forward with the clinical use of stem cell therapy," said Emerson Perin, MD, PhD, director of clinical research for cardiovascular medicine at the Texas Heart Institute and the study's lead investigator.

This multi-center study was conducted by the Cardiovascular Cell Therapy Research Network and took place between April 2009 and 2011. At five sites, 92 patients were randomly selected to receive stem cell treatment or placebo. The patients, average age 63, all had chronic ischemic heart disease and an ejection fraction of less than 45 percent along with heart failure and/or angina, and were no longer candidates for revascularization.

"Studies such as these are able to be completed much faster because of the team approach of the network," said Sonia Skarlatos, PhD, deputy director of the division of cardiovascular sciences at the National, Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, and program director of the network.

Bone marrow was aspirated from the patients and processed to obtain just the mononuclear fraction of the marrow. In patients randomly selected to receive stem cell therapy, doctors inserted a catheter into the heart's left ventricle to inject a total of 3 ccs comprising 100 million stem cells into an average of 15 sites that showed damage on the electromechanical mapping image of the heart. Dr. Perin said the procedure is relatively quick and painless, involving only an overnight stay at the hospital.

The study used electromechanical mapping of the heart to measure the voltage in areas of the heart muscle and create a real-time image of the heart.

Read the original post:
Stem cell therapy possibly helpful in heart failure patients

(RTTNews.com) - An important clinical trial, which evaluated the use of autologous bone-marrow-cell therapy in patients with chronic ischemic heart failure, has failed to meet the prespecified end points of improvement in most measures of heart function, according to the results presented at the American College of Cardiology 2012 Scientific Sessions.

The trial dubbed, FOCUS - a phase II study, is the largest study to date to investigate if a patient's own bone marrow cells improved myocardial perfusion, reduced left ventricular end-systolic volume or enhanced maximal oxygen consumption in patients with coronary artery disease or LV dysfunction, and limiting heart failure or angina. The FOCUS trial was undertaken by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute-sponsored Cardiovascular Cell Therapy Research Network.

Ninety two patients with chronic ischemic heart disease , having a left ventricular ejection fraction of 45% or less, a perfusion defect by single-photon emission tomography, or SPECT, who were no longer candidates for revascularization, were enrolled in the trial. Sixty one patients in the study were administered bone marrow cells through transendocardial injections while thirty one patients were administered placebo.

An assessment of primary endpoints at 6 months has revealed that there is no statistically significant difference between the treatment group and placebo arm in left ventricular end-systolic volume assessed by echocardiography, maximal oxygen consumption, and reversibility on SPECT. The secondary outcomes, including percent myocardial defect, total defect size, fixed defect size, regional wall motion, and clinical improvement, also has not exhibited any difference between the two arms.

However, according to the study authors, exploratory analyses have revealed that left ventricular ejection fraction improved in the treatment group compared with the placebo group by 2.7%.

The authors, led by Emerson Perin, concluded that the findings provide evidence for further studies to determine the relationship between the composition and function of bone marrow product and clinical end points. Understanding these relationships will improve the design and interpretation of future studies of cardiac cell therapy, the authors noted.

The results were published online March 24 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com

http://www.rttnews.com

See more here:
Bone Marrow Stem Cell Therapy Trial - Clues, But No Answers

ras@intlstemcell.com

INTERNATIONAL STEM CELL CORPORATION AND SUBSIDIARIES (A Developmental Stage Company) Consolidated Balance Sheets (in thousands, except share data)
				December 31,
				2011											2010
Assets
Current assets
Cash and cash equivalents				$	1,337										$	5,782
Accounts receivable					140											739
Inventory, net					1,268											856
Prepaid assets					274											228
Total current assets					3,019											7,605
Property and equipment, net					1,420											1,296
Intangible assets, net					1,282											986
Deposits and other assets					16											40
Total assets				$	5,737										$	9,927
Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity
Current liabilities
Accounts payable				$	885										$	583
Accrued liabilities					752											545
Deferred revenue					189											760
Convertible debt and advances					250											250
Warrants to purchase common stock					38											2,400
Total liabilities					2,114											4,538
Stockholders' Equity
Series D Preferred stock, $0.001 par value 50 shares authorized, 43 issued and outstanding for 2011 and 2010					-											-
Series A Preferred stock, $0.001 par value 5,000,000 shares authorized, 500,000 issued and outstanding for 2011 and 2010, liquidation preferences of $615,000 and $585,000 in 2011 and 2010, respectively					1											1
Series B Preferred stock, $0.001 par value 5,000,000 shares authorized, 300,000 issued and outstanding for 2011 and 2010, liquidation preferences of $367,000 and $349,000 in 2011 and 2010, respectively					0											0
Series C Preferred stock, $0.001 par value 3,000,000 shares authorized, 2,000,000 issued and outstanding for 2011 and 2010, liquidation preferences of $2,387,000 and $2,267,000 in 2011 and 2010, respectively					2											2
Common stock, $0.001 par value 200,000,000 shares authorized, 80,036,315 and 74,771,107 issued and outstanding for 2011 and 2010, respectively					80											75
Subscription receivable on common stock					-											(5	)
Additional paid-in capital					63,995											56,170
Deficit accumulated during the development stage					(60,455	)										(50,854	)
Total stockholders' equity					3,623											5,389
Total liabilities and stockholders' equity				$	5,737										$	9,927

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements

INTERNATIONAL STEM CELL CORPORATION AND SUBSIDIARIES (A Developmental Stage Company) Consolidated Statements of Operations (in thousands, except per share data)
				Year Ended December 31,																Inception (August 17, 2001) through December 31, 2011
				2011								2010
Product sales				$	4,532							$	1,568							$	7,631
Royalties and license					-								-								135
Total revenue					4,532								1,568								7,766
Development expenses
Cost of sales					1,618								725								3,334
Research and development					4,434								3,374								18,294
Marketing					1,475								860								3,874
General and administrative					8,360								7,071								31,684
Total development expenses					15,887								12,030								57,186
Loss from development activities					(11,355	)							(10,462	)							(49,420	)
Other income (expense)
Settlement with related company					-								-								(93	)
Miscellaneous					(163	)							(26	)							(180	)
Dividend and interest income					1								28								94
Interest expense					-								(14	)							(2,225	)
Change in market value of warrants					2,335								(2,501	)							(1,395	)
Sublease income					11								252								309
Total other income (expense)					2,184								(2,261	)							(3,490	)
Loss before income taxes					(9,171	)							(12,723	)							(52,910	)
Provision for income taxes					-								-								7
Net loss				$	(9,171	)						$	(12,723	)						$	(52,917	)
Dividend on preferred stock					(430	)							(1,561	)							(7,968	)
Net loss applicable to common stockholders				$	(9,601	)						$	(14,284	)						$	(60,885	)
Net loss per common share-basic and diluted				$	(0.12	)						$	(0.21	)							n/a
Weighted average shares-basic and diluted					77,320								68,762								n/a

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements

International Stem Cell Corporation
Linh Nguyen, CFO
760-940-6383
lnguyen@intlstemcell.com
or
Dr. Ruslan Semechkin, Vice President
760-940-6383
ras@intlstemcell.com

Source:
http://intlstemcell.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

The Vatican has cancelled a controversial scientific conference that would have featured scientists, including the president of the California stem cell agency, who support human embryonic stem cell research.

The conference reportedly created a "scandal" in the Vatican, according to a report by David Kerr of the Catholic News Agency. Kerr wrote,

"'I am infinitely relieved that the Church has avoided a major blunder which would have confused the faithful for decades to come,'” said one member of the Pontifical Academy who asked for anonymity in commenting to (the Catholic News Agency)."

The Catholic church opposes hESC research because of its belief that it destroys human life.

The conference would have taken place at the Vatican April 25-28 and included an audience with the pope. In addition to an appearance by CIRM's Alan Trounson, the key lecture was scheduled to have been given by George Daley of Harvard.

Kerr quoted the member of the Vactican's Pontifical Academy for Life as saying,

"The Holy Spirit has certainly shown to be present through those faithful members who drew attention to the ambiguity of the choice of speakers. I hope and pray that a review will be affected of the basis on which these congresses are planned."

Kerr also quoted another anonymous member of the academy as saying that the presence of speakers such as Trounson and Daley was "a betrayal of the mission of the academy and a public scandal."

Source:
http://californiastemcellreport.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

The California Stem Cell Report is concluding its coverage today of the meeting of the governing board of the directors meeting of the California stem cell agency.

No decisions were made on the general direction of future funding -- basic research and training vs development of therapies. Some of the directors differed sharply on the issues, however. We will have more on this subject later.

Here are slides from the presentation on the progress report on the agency's $230 million disease team round. One $19 million grant was cancelled.
Progress Report: Disease Team Grants by California Stem Cell Agency

Source:
http://californiastemcellreport.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

A California stem cell researcher, who must remain anonymous, made the following emailed comment today on the progress report on the $230 million in disease team grants from the California stem cell agency and termination of a $19 million grant.

"I'm impressed that CIRM is following through on monitoring the huge disease team grants and has actually curtailed the funding of one that didn't meet a key milestone. I hope that makes the other grant holders nervous! Too many scientists (in my humble opinion) forget that they need to do what they said they'd do- or - if the first plan fails, have the expertise and desire to adapt and find another way to reach the goals."

Source:
http://californiastemcellreport.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

The $3 billion California stem cell agency announced today that it has hired Kevin McCormack, currently media relations manager at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, as its new director of communications.

CIRM Chairman Jonathan Thomas told the agency's directors at their meeting this morning in Sacramento that the appointment comes "not a moment too soon." Thomas told directors last June that the agency was engaged in a "communications war." Directors have been concerned about the lack of media coverage of the agency, which is largely below the radar of the mainstream media.

Thomas said that McCormack has "lots of experience" in media crisis management and "pressure cooker situations."

McCormack also served as media relations manager, Division of Research at Kaiser Permanente, and was a health/medical producer at KRON-TV in San Francisco.

The agency did not immediately release McCormack's salary. He will begin work April 2.

Source:
http://californiastemcellreport.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss