Final Approval of Loan To Stem Cell Agency Expected This Month

Legal challenges to the measure establishing the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine are expected to be resolved "about a year from now," CIRM President Zach Hall said in an interview on KPBS' "These Days" on Thursday (Fudge, "These Days," KPBS, 11/9).

State voters in 2004 approved Proposition 71, which permits CIRM to award as much as $350 million annually over 10 years. Legal challenges to the measure have prevented the agency from awarding grants in its first two years (California Healthline, 10/12).

Hall also said that he expects a stem cell finance committee at a meeting on Nov. 20 to authorize a $150 million state loan ("These Days," KPBS, 11/9).

Schwarzenegger on July 21 pledged state funds to CIRM one day after President Bush vetoed legislation that would have expanded federal funding of stem cell research (California Healthline, 11/1).

According to Hall, the finance committee meeting "will give us the necessary authorization to receive" the loan.

Intellectual Property

CIRM's intellectual property task force met on Thursday to consider the terms of research grants to for-profit companies, KPBS reports.

Hall said that in addition to adopting intellectual property policies for not-for-profit and for-profit organizations, CIRM over the past two years has also established medical and ethical standards, grants administration policy and training programs for stem cell researchers.

Guests on the program also included John Reed, president and CEO of the Burnham Institute and member of the intellectual property task force for CIRM, and John Simpson, stem cell project director at the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights ("These Days," KPBS, 11/9).

Audio of the program is available online.

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