High on Selling Hope, Less So on Production of Revolutionary Therapies

A tale of three companies and CIRM over two decades

The headline on the cover of the San Francisco Business Times told it all.

“Running on Empty: What do you do when 25 years and a billion dollars have not produced an approved drug?” 

It was a clear illustration of the enormously expensive task and challenges involved in developing cutting-edge therapies -- an illustration that applies as well to the $12 b…