Once Terrific News for California Stem Cell Agency Turned Negative Today

Multibillion-dollar deal involving Gilead not panning out well

Irv Weissman, co-founder of Forty Seven, Inc. Stanford photo

A $4.9 billion deal that the California stem cell agency heralded four years ago as an “incredible” validation of the agency’s work did not look so good today. 

Bad news circulated across the Internet’s biotech world during the day about major problems involving the therapies acquired by Gilead, Inc., of Foster City, Ca., when it purchased Forty Seven, Inc. of Menlo Park, Ca., in March of 2020. 

At the time, Maria Millan, then president and CEO of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), as the stem cell agency is officially known, celebrated the purchase. “To say this is incredible would be an understatement!” she said. 

CIRM had pumped $15 million directly into Forty Seven and provided another