NC Biotechnology Center awards $3.5M in grants, loans – WRAL Tech Wire
By Dr. Matthew Watson
NC Biotechnology Center awards $3.5M in grants, loans WRAL Tech Wire Research Triangle Park, N.C. — Life science start-up companies, event sponsors, researchers and educators received $3.58 million in loans and grants from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center during the final quarter of the fiscal year ended June 30 ... |
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August 25th, 2013
Pro and anti-GM crop groups slug out the controversial issue in power corridors – Times of India
By Dr. Matthew Watson
Pro and anti-GM crop groups slug out the controversial issue in power corridors Times of India ... storage denying farmers and the nation the benefits of modern science and technology. Let science innovate. Let Indian scientists research freely. And let farmers choose," said Desh Pal Verma of the department of molecular genetics, Ohio State ... |
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August 25th, 2013
California Stem Cell Agency’s $150,000 Search for Its Financial Future
By Dr. Matthew Watson
often known as an “economic therapist,” has been selected to
devise a “strategic road map” for the financial future of the $3
billion California stem cell agency.
 |
| James Gollub: 'economic therapist' Gollub Associates photo |
firm bearing his name, is under a $150,000 contract to lay out by
this fall a detailed plan for the agency. The nine-year-old research
effort is scheduled to run out of money for new awards in 2017.
posted a request for proposals (RFP) last spring. The RFP assumed an
additional $50 million to $200 million in a onetime “public
investment.” The RFP also assumed additional private funding of a
yet-to-be-determined nature.
is known as an “economic therapist.” The website for his current firm says,
“A leading expert in innovation
bridge building....
“Global experience assisting
universities, institutes, government agencies and public-private
partnerships link innovation sources to innovation
seekers.
“Committed to the goal of increasing flow of needed
solutions, optimizing financial returns and sustainable economic
impacts from innovation.”
March of this year. His Linked In profile says,
“James Gollub Associates
(JGA) LLC was launched to build on 36 years of Gollub’s
professional research and consulting experience. That experience
began with 16 years at SRI International, three years at
DRI/McGraw-Hill, five years at IDeA, nine years at ICF International
and three years with E-Cubed Ventures LLC. During that
time Gollub has worked globally to deliver
economic strategies for over 30 national, state and metropolitan
regions, develop strategies to accelerate growth of new industries
(clusters), plan public and private R&D institutes and advise on
over 15 science and technology parks.”
The need for a financial transition plan for CIRM was publicly identified as long ago as 2009 by the Little Hoover Commission in its lengthy study and has been reiterated periodically by other bodies since then. Under the terms of Prop. 71, which created the agency, CIRM has only a 10-year authority to issue state bonds, the borrowed funds that have sustained the research effort. Legal maneuvering blocked the issuance of bonds until 2007.
The California Stem Cell Report asked
the stem cell agency on May 31 for a copy of Gollub's response to the
RFP. Yesterday we asked for a copy of the contract with Gollub. Those
documents will be published when they are received.
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/tncFJBJJM5I/california-stem-cell-agencys-150000.html
Stem Cell Therapy
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August 25th, 2013
California Stem Cell Researchers to Receive $70 Million Next Week
By Dr. Matthew Watson
scheduled to give away $70 million next week as it moves forward on
its efforts to turn research into cures.
projected to be awarded in the early translation round. The awards will range up to $3.5 million over a three year period. The round was open to
both businesses and academic institutions. Collaborators from Germany
were involved, although funding for research in that country is not provided by the state stem cell agency.
the $3 billion agency's governing board at its Aug. 28 meeting in La Jolla. After next week's awards, the agency, which is known as CIRM, will have about $500
million left to hand out before cash for new awards runs out in 2017.
The agency is currently examining ways to continue its awards with
some sort of public-private partnership.
proposed announcement for a CIRM/industry co-funding agreement. No
further details on that program were available early today on the agenda.
Other matters to be considered include final approval of the changes
in the agency's IP regulations, appointment of new members to the
grant review group and the latest report on the outside contracts
held by the agency. Details on those matters are yet to be posted by
the agency.
co-vice chairman of the agency, is also scheduled. The board will
additionally meet behind closed doors to evaluate the performance of
CIRM President Alan Trounson.
carry more information on the meeting as it becomes available.
for the meeting, other locations where the public can take part in
the meeting are in Menlo Park and Duarte. Specific addresses can be
found on the agenda.
Source:Stem Cell Therapy
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August 25th, 2013
Flim-Flam Stem Cell Artists Targeted by CIRM
By Dr. Matthew Watson
joined with other prestigious stem cell organizations to help put a
stop to the flim-flam artists that prey on desperate people by
promising miracle cures from stem cell treatments.
patients should consider when making treatment decisions.”
education communications officer and author of the blog item, said
the document addresses one of his special concerns: Internet “ads
that come up on web searches and seem to be offering everything to
everyone.”
automatically by Google.
Source:California Stem Cell Agency Spending: Where the Money Is Going
By Dr. Matthew Watson
 |
| Analysis of CIRM funding by Pat Olson, executive director of CIRM scientific activities July 2013 |
have committed $472 million to translational research – a key to
commercializing stem cell therapies – if it awards the full $70
million in new grants and loans slated to come before its governing
board next week.
about 17 percent of its funding so far, according to an analysis last
month by Pat Olson, the agency's executive director of scientific activities. The
largest percentage of the agency's cash, however, will be going for
“development” – 35 percent or $970 million. Olson defined
“development” as “essentially our IND enabling, our
preclinical development programs and our clinical development
programs.”
or about $469 million with buildings and facilities taking up $443
million or 16 percent. Training and career development has consumed
about 15 percent or $414 million.
$577 million in funds that have been allocated but not yet awarded.
Another $491 million is “concept approved” but also not awarded.
The agency's governing board could change those allocations or
withdraw approval of concepts, although it has not yet shown signs
that it might do so.
new grants in 2017 and is examining the possibility of generating
more cash through some sort of public-private partnership. To develop
support for continued funding, the agency is under pressure to
generate results that will resonate with the public and potential
private funding sources. Those results are most likely to come from
a late stage translational/clinical trial effort.
(An earlier version of this item incorrectly said that the agency would run out of money for new grants in 2013. The correct year is 2017,.)
Source:Stem Cell Therapy
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August 25th, 2013
A $2 Million Bill: Outside Contracting by California Stem Cell Agency
By Dr. Matthew Watson
agency this week posted a list of its outside contractors, who range
from a a $25,000 stem cell licensing consultant to a $550,000-a-year law firm.
million during 2013-14 on outside contracting, down from $2.9 million
in 2012-13. This week's report covers the 2012-13 year.
largest item in the agency's budget, which is slated to spend $17.4
million this fiscal year for operational expenses, up 5 percent
from last year's spending. The largest amount, $12.2 million, goes
for salaries and benefits. (For more on the budget, see here, here
and here.)
firm of Remcho, Johansen & Purcell of San Leandro, Ca., which had
the $550,000 contract. CIRM, as the agency is known, reported that Remcho came in under
budget by $95,595. That contrasts to some previous years when the
firm, which has represented the stem cell agency since its inception,
required additional cash on top of its original contract. James
Harrison of the Remcho firm is its face at the agency and is
designated as the outside counsel to the agency's governing board. In
all, the agency is slated to spend $2.2 million on legal expenses,
including in-house work.
contractor. He was paid only $13,125 on his $25,000 contract during
2012-13. It is unclear whether he will be paid the $11,875 balance.
Earp was chief patent counsel and senior vice president for business
development for Geron before it dropped its stem cell program. Earp was heavily involved in the $25 million loan that CIRM made to Geron in 2011. In
February 2008, he testified before CIRM about its then proposed loan
program.
$200,000 to the AlphaMed Press of Durham, N.C., as seed funding for a
stem cells translational journal, $156,434 to Hyatt Hotels for the
meeting of CIRM grant recipients, $250,000 to Kutir Corp. of Newark, Ca., for
informational technology services and $290,000 to the Mitchell
Group of Woodland Hills, Ca., also for information technology services.
presented to the CIRM governing board at its meeting next week. The
list does not usually trigger any significant discussion.
Source:Stem Cell Therapy
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August 25th, 2013
New Ties to Big Pharma and Venture Capital Proposed at California Stem Cell Agency
By Dr. Matthew Watson
agency wants to recruit major biotech and venture capital firms to
help provide tens of millions of dollars in research awards to
California enterprises.
partnerships in a relatively new, $80 million, business-friendly program that is aimed at pushing therapies into the
marketplace. The recruitment plan will come before the agency's governing board at its meeting next Wednesday in San Diego.
special relationship with the state agency, including early input
into concept funding proposals prior to their being presented to the
agency's governing board. The “industry collaborators” will also
be able to attend agency workshops and meetings involving
hundreds of grant recipients. Presumably other, non-collaborating
firms would be barred.
special event-hosting arrangements aimed at creating more
collaborations and posting of information from the selected
collaborators on the CIRM website.
initiative would be limited to biotech and pharmaceutical firms with
a market capitalization of at least $500 million and “qualified
venture capital firms.” The document did not define what a
“qualified a venture capital firm” is. The document also appeared
to bar participation of privately held firms because of the “market
capitalization” criteria, which typically uses a formula involving
publicly traded shares.
counsel and vice president, business development, said in a statement
provided to the California Stem Cell Report,
“This is aimed at trying to jump
start the creation of the partnerships that are required to satisfy
the commercial validation requirements of the Strategic Partnership
Funding Initiative so that timelines are better synced-up as between
our review and approval cycles for the Strategic Partnership RFAs and
the lengthy time required for investors to conduct due diligence and
negotiate an agreement with prospective applicants to Strategic
Partnership RFAs. CIRM's independent review and approval
remains the same and is wholly independent. While there may be input
given to a particular RFA it only at the high level concept stage and
of course CIRM has no obligation to agree. In the context of the
Strategic Partnership awards, CIRM wants to fund innovative high
quality science that has attracted additional investors.
Investors will help leverage CIRM fund and will be an important
source of future funding to further the project.”
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/ZtmnBmRh5K0/new-ties-to-big-pharma-and-venture.html
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August 25th, 2013
Sizzling Penny Stocks – Generex Biotechnology Corporation (OTCMKTS:GNBT … – SBWire (press release)
By Dr. Matthew Watson
Sizzling Penny Stocks - Generex Biotechnology Corporation (OTCMKTS:GNBT ... SBWire (press release) Generex Biotechnology Corporation (www.generex.com) (GNBT) announced publication of follow up studies from a Phase I clinical trial of its immunotherapeutic agent AE37 in patients with prostate cancer. The Phase I study demonstrated that the compound ... Stocks on the Move-Generex Biotechnology Corporation (OTCMKTS: GNBT ...Techsonian |
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August 24th, 2013
Ghana to tap into genetic engineering – Biochemist – Ghana Business News
By Dr. Matthew Watson
 Ghana Business News | Ghana to tap into genetic engineering – Biochemist Ghana Business News Dr Yaa Difie Osei, a biochemist and molecular biologist, has said the country was positioning itself to tap into the benefits of modern biotechnology and genetic engineering for guaranteed food security. She said structures including institutional and ... |
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August 18th, 2013
Genetic engineering project begins with glow-in-the-dark rabbits, but it could … – MedCity News
By Dr. Matthew Watson
 ABC News | Genetic engineering project begins with glow-in-the-dark rabbits, but it could ... MedCity News The point of the flashy genetic engineering is not to give pet store owners a new product to hawk, but rather to confirm that the techniques researchers use to transfer genes into a genome are working. And in many cases, the greater goal is to develop ... UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MANOAStuff.co.nz A Gene That Was Not Originally in Animals Now ExistsFrench Tribune |
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August 18th, 2013
Genetic Engineering Produces A Genuine Monstrosity – Forbes
By Dr. Matthew Watson
Genetic Engineering Produces A Genuine Monstrosity Forbes Activists have warned for decades that genetic engineering would create some sort of monstrosity like Dr. Frankenstein's creature. It turns out they were right: Government regulation has run amok and threatens advances in agriculture. USDA's existing ... |
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August 18th, 2013
Huntsville biotechnology company Kailos Genetics approved to test human DNA … – The Huntsville Times – al.com
By Dr. Matthew Watson
Huntsville biotechnology company Kailos Genetics approved to test human DNA ... The Huntsville Times - al.com HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – Huntsville biotechnology company Kailos Genetics is expanding its capabilities in the emerging science of personal medicine in a move to grow both the company and Huntsville's biotechnology sector. “All of the underpinnings are ... |
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August 18th, 2013
MorphoSys Biotechnology Success Offers European Blueprint – Bloomberg
By Dr. Matthew Watson
MorphoSys Biotechnology Success Offers European Blueprint Bloomberg Biotechnology companies have struggled for financing in Europe, and the region has failed to produce companies the size of Amgen Inc. (AMGN) or Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) of the U.S., which have market values of more than $80 billion. To surmount ... |
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August 18th, 2013
Melanoma combination therapies ward off tumor resistance – Nature.com
By Dr. Matthew Watson
Melanoma combination therapies ward off tumor resistance Nature.com Nature Biotechnology. Access provided to Google by Bot. Cart · Home · Advance online publication · Current issue · Archive · Focuses and Supplements · Press releases. Search Go Advanced search · nature.com · journal home · current issue · News; full text. |
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August 18th, 2013
Extent of Genetic Overlap in Key Mental Disorders Revealed – Medscape
By Dr. Matthew Watson
Extent of Genetic Overlap in Key Mental Disorders Revealed Medscape "These results give us by far the clearest picture available to date of the degree of genetic similarity between these key psychiatric disorders," co–senior author Kenneth S. Kendler, MD, professor of psychiatry and human and molecular genetics in the ... |
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August 18th, 2013
Unhidden Traits: Genomic Data Privacy Debates Heat Up
By Dr. Matthew Watson
Earlier this year Yaniv Erlich of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at M.I.T. sent bioethicists into a frenzy when he and his team uncovered the names of people whose anonymous genome...
-- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
http://rss.sciam.com/~r/sciam/topic/gene-therapy/~3/c3dvzwuFAUI/article.cfm
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August 18th, 2013
Bonilla: Veto of Pay-for-Eggs Bill Shows Troubling Mindset
By Dr. Matthew Watson
assailed Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown's “mindset” as “particularly
troubling” in his veto of legislation that would have allowed women
to sell their eggs for scientific research.
Susan Bonilla, D-Concord, in response to Brown's action on her
fertility-industry sponsored bill, AB926, which would have removed a
ban on compensation for women who provide eggs for research.
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| Susan Bonilla Photo from California Legislature |
“Not everything in life is for sale
nor should it be.”
Weekly, quoted Bonilla as saying,
“It (the governor's veto) shows a
glaring inconsistency...The veto statement was very overreaching in
the fact that it was making very broad statements about what women
should be able to do, and while it's not legislation it certainly
goes to a mindset that the governor has that I find particularly
troubling.”
“Market-driven compensation of donors
by donor agencies and prospective parents continues unchecked.”
said the governor's veto “is a regressive action that denies
thousands of women the prospect of medical fertility breakthroughs.”
She said,
“Many women...will be denied hope and
the possibility of giving birth to a child because research on their
behalf has been halted in California.”
in egg-related research, such as that involving stem cells, should
be compensated, just as men are for their sperm. Women who provide
eggs for fertility purposes can be legally compensated up to any
amount. The current market runs about $10,000 or so per egg cycle but can be much
higher.
affected a ban on compensation involving research funded by the $3
billion California stem cell agency. It would have taken a 70 percent
vote of each house to alter that restriction, compared to a simple
majority for Bonilla's bill. The super, super-majority requirement
was written into state law by Proposition 71, the measure that
created the stem cell agency.
would attempt to override the governor's veto, which would require a
2/3 vote of each house.
Center for Genetics and Society in Berkeley, called the veto a
“welcome development.”
director of the center, said,
“It would be unconscionable to
expand the commercial market in women’s eggs without obtaining
significantly more information about the risks of retrieving them.”
on the veto of the bill: Los Angeles Times, Sacramento Bee, an
additional story from late yesterday on Capitol Weekly, TheAssociated Press and National Review.
Source:Stem Cell Therapy
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August 18th, 2013
‘Butter and Eggs Money" and a Gubernatorial Veto
By Dr. Matthew Watson
Scheper-Hughes, professor of medical anthropology at UC Berkeley and
director of Organs
Watch, is one of the opponents of the legislation that would have
permitted women to sell their eggs for research. Today she filed the
following comment on the “troubling mindset” item on the
California Stem Cell Report.
“Jerry Brown's
veto of AB926
which would allow young women to be paid for multiple egg extractions
for scientific research is one for the gals. In western Ireland
women secreted away their 'butter
and eggs'
money in anticipation of hard times. In my day every smart girl had
her 'mad money' to escape a bad situation. Secret cash for young
women is a great idea, but not when it turns on multiple cycles of
pumping powerful hormones associated (in other contexts) with ovarian
cancer into young women's bodies to produce 30 or 60 eggs a month.
That's not promoting gender equity no matter what some of our best
Democratic women leaders have to say. Selling sperm and selling eggs
are a totally different matter. One is pleasurable and safe,
the other is a complicated and invasive procedure. We need good
science and good research and freedom of choice and action. We
also need protection from false advertising. There are no
evidence based, long term studies of the effects of these hormone
injections on women ten or twenty years after the fact. Let's fund
those needed longitudinal and cohort studies and hope for the best.
In the meantime, women had best stick to 'butter and eggs' money. It
doesn't pay a lot, but it's less painful and a heck of a lot safer.”
Source:Stem Cell Therapy
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August 18th, 2013
California Gov. Jerry Brown Vetoes Pay-for-Eggs Legislation
By Dr. Matthew Watson
vetoed a fertility industry-backed measure that would have permitted
women to sell their eggs for the purposes of scientific research.
“Not everything in life is for sale
nor should it be.”
compensation of women who provide their eggs for scientific purposes.
The measure would not have changed existing law that allows women to
be paid for their eggs for IVF purposes with fees that range up to
$50,000. The bill also would not have affected the ban on compensation for
eggs for research that is financed by the $3 billion California stem
cell agency.
Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla, D-Concord, was sponsored by the American
Society for Reproductive Medicine and easily swept through the Democratic-dominated legislature. Bonilla said the measure would have placed women on an
equal footing with men, who are paid for their sperm contributions
for research. She also said that it would help to encourage more
research into fertility issues.
complained that not enough women are willing to donate eggs without
compensation, but stem cell researchers were not publicly involved in
supporting the bill.
confidently predicted that Brown, a Democrat like Bonilla, would sign the bill. The governor's
action could be overridden by a 2/3 vote of each house of the
Legislature. It is not clear whether Bonilla will make such an
attempt.
message:
"Not everything in life is for sale
nor should it be."This bill would legalize the payment of
money in exchange for a woman submitting to invasive procedures to
stimulate, extract and harvest her eggs for scientific research."The questions raised here are not
simple; they touch matters that are both personal and philosophical.
"In medical procedures of this kind,
genuinely informed consent is difficult because the long-term risks
are not adequately known. Putting thousands of dollars on the table
only compounds the problem."Six years ago the Legislature, by
near unanimity, enacted the prohibition that this bill now seeks to
reverse. After careful review of the materials which both supporters
and opponents submitted, I do not find sufficient reason to change
course.
"I am returning this bill without my
signature."
Source:Stem Cell Therapy
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August 18th, 2013