California's Multi-Billion Dollar Plan for Spending on Cell and Gene Therapy Is Nearing Completion

Full Airing Next Week for Public Comment and Review by CIRM Board

Maria Millan, president of the California stem cell agency, will present five-year strategic plan Oct. 19. CIRM photo

The 35 directors of the $12 billion California stem cell agency are scheduled to meet next week for a full day and take up matters ranging from conflicts of interest to results from its latest legislatively required performance audit. 

That is not to mention a new plan for spending several billions of dollars over the next five years.  

Will spending for clinical trials be the most well-funded research? The trials are absolutely necessary to bring “miraculous” treatments to the general population. But they are risky financially and physically to patients.

How much will basic research receive, a key consideration for the academic institutions represented on the agency’s governing board? When will a $83 million facilities building plan kick in, another important subject for a number of members of the board?

All of those matters are open to the public, scientists and cell and gene therapy companies, among others, for comments, criticism and suggestions, courtesy of state law, the agency and the Internet. Directions for logging into the meeting are on the meeting agenda.

Here is a quick overview of the topics on the Oct. 19 agenda, which includes:

• A thorough rundown on the proposed, multibillion-dollar strategic plan for the next five years. The plan is scheduled for final approval in December at the next full board meeting. Maria Millan, the agency’s CEO, will cover the proposal in her president’s report. Next week’s meeting is effectively the last opportunity for researchers and the public to make their voices heard directly and publicly by the board on the strategy and spending plan of the stem cell agency. 

• Changes in the bylaws of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), as the agency is formally known. The changes will weaken the conflict of interest rules for the board.

• Approval of the final appointments to a new panel charged with dealing with affordability and access issues involving CIRM research and therapies that could cost upwards of $2 million.

• Ratification in public of decisions made by the anonymous scientists who review in private the applications for the Golden State’s billions. The proposals to be considered involve clinical stage research. The full board does not actually see the applications, only the public review summaries that are also available to the public.  Fifteen members of the full board are excluded by CIRM rules from voting on the applications. It is the Application Review Subcommittee (a 20-member subset of the 35-member board) that has the legal responsibility for ratifying the decision of the reviewers. 

As more details emerge, the California Stem Cell Report, which offers the only independent and regular coverage of the stem cell agency, will carry background and perspective on subjects to be considered by the board next week.  Look for those articles in the coming days.

Labels: icoc, strategic plan