Category Archives: Stem Cell Therapy

Jon Shestack(l) with J.T. Thomas, chairman of CIRM, at a 2012 board meeting California Stem Cell Report photo

“Over eight years there were moments
that were inspiring, some were contentious, and there was a bruising
number of meetings but through it all, the board was involved,
passionate and, will forever be for me, the gold standard when it
comes to integrity.
“The same goes double for the staff –
truly the most excellent, devoted, committed group of people I
have ever had the pleasure of working with.”

“When I started at CIRM, my sweet son
with autism was 12. Now he is 21. Over eight years our family has
learned more about how many are the challenges that await him and how
few the opportunities he has to look forward to. We have seen his
world get smaller and smaller. While my son is special to me. He is
not unique. There are thousands and thousands affected by mental
illness who need a better life.
“Sometimes feel that I have failed
these people, in particular those affected by autism or cerebral
palsy. Though CIRM ran first-rate workshops on these disorders, we
did not do all we could to follow up, put out disease-specific RFAs
and get in proposals that addressed the workshop recommendations. I
wish I had been more persuasive."

“In the movies, the third act is
where the hero takes stock of all the previous wins and losses, all
the hardships and lessons learned, and she puts all that knowledge
together in new, and surprising ways until victory is within reach!
As CIRM enters its third act, I hope it will do the same. I hope it
will challenge itself, always put the urgency of the mission
ahead of everything else and be willing to question the policies that
have been so successful in the past, and consider that new ones may
be needed for the future.
“And this is the future as I see it
for CIRM. We will have faith, but we will continue to earn our
miracles We will use our hearts and our minds to rip those miracles
out of the dreamy future and make them real today. We will seek out
the best scientists and encourage them to use all their wisdom, art
and discernment to bring us cures. And when we have done that, we
will do it again the next day. We will be optimistic, but not
satisfied. We will question authority, despise complacency and above
all love those among us in need of healing--this is the obligation
without end, whose reward is also without end.”

Shestack
Resignation Letter

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/BaaZlqP9Q4s/shestack-resignation-letter-heartfelt.html

Al Rowlett Turning Point photo

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/C2aH568yoco/sacramento-mental-health-advocate.html

“Six months (after providing the
eggs) my body began to fail me. I had always been a healthy and
active woman, but suddenly I was crippled by pain and unable to live
the life I had once enjoyed. I was soon diagnosed with stage IV
endometriosis, a disease my doctors now believe was pushed into
overdrive as a result of the potent hormones involved in my egg
donation protocols.”

“AB 926 may open the doors for
increased fertility research, but the potential costs for women’s
lives and health far outweigh any compensation that could ever be
offered.”

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/uMnWUVrymr8/tv-news-piece-on-pay-for-eggs-airs-in.html

“If you agree that more research on
short- and long-term risks is needed before expanding the market for
women’s eggs, please act quickly. Contact Governor Brown and ask
him to veto AB926.”

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/OqoMeSiIO_c/veto-campaign-launched-on-california.html

“In the last 6 months, though, the
industry has seen a tremendous rebound, with almost twice that number
of IPOs in half the time. And there's no sign that the great leap
into the public market is waning, with 10 more IPOs in the queue.”

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/g8tqW1ynaMw/comfort-news-for-californias-stem-cell.html

“(C)omplicating the issue is
California’s role as a national leader in stem cell research, the
existential question of who or what constitutes a research subject,
and finally, the fact that compensation for fertility purposes is and
has been legal for years in California.”

Lisa Ikemoto UC Davis photo

“On the fertility side, it’s
politically hard to touch because it’s all around family formation.
Nobody wants to restrict family formation. On the research side, when
the issue of payment for eggs came up, it was connected with human
embryonic stem cell research, and human embryonic stem cell research
was politicized from the outset.”

“Groups that fundamentally oppose
stem cell research such as the California Catholic Conference and
other pro-life groups are natural opponents of the bill, but they are
joined by a number of pro-choice groups who expressed concerns over
the limited research on the effects of egg donation on women’s
health.”

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/pskHpPceyco/pay-for-eggs-legislation-strange.html

The
California stem cell agency today scored what it called an “important
milestone” with the announcement of the start of a clinical trial
involving a therapy to help protect persons infected with HIV from
the effects of the virus.

The
trial is partially funded from a $20 million award from the stem cell
agency, which is known as CIRM, to researchers
at UCLA and Calimmune, a Tucson, Az.,
company. Calimmune's share of the award was $8.2 million.

Alan
Trounson, president of the $3 billion state agency, said in a
statement,

“CIRM
funding of this Phase l/ll trial is an important milestone for us.
One of our goals is to support research that moves the most promising
science out of the lab and into clinical trials in people. To be able
to do that with a disease as devastating as HIV/AIDS highlights the
importance of our funding and the potential impact it could have on
the health of people around the world.”

The
trial was announced by Calimmune this morning. The company said,

“The
first patient has begun treatment in a Phase I/II clinical trial
designed to determine whether a pioneering genetic medicine approach
can help to protect individuals infected with HIV from the effects of
the virus. The study, “Safety
Study of a Dual Anti-HIV Gene Transfer Construct to Treat HIV-1
Infection,”
utilizes a gene medicine called Cal-1, developed in the lab of Nobel
Laureate Dr. David
Baltimore and
by Calimmune.”

Baltimore
served on the CIRM board from 2004 until June 6, 2007. He resigned
from the board about
18 months before the application process began for the grant round
that ultimately funded Calimmune, a company he helped to found. He is currently chairman of the Calimmune board. 

Asked
for comment, Jeff Sheehy, a member of the CIRM governing
board and communications director for AIDS research at UC San
Francisco, said,

"This
trial will hopefully offer several important insights into the safety
and feasibility of genetically modifying blood forming stem cells in
an HIV patient as a potential therapy.  We are very early in
this research, and with this Phase I trial's goal of establishing
safety and the risks involved, I applaud the courage and altruism
demonstrated by the patients who are willing to participate in this
study."

The Calimmune
press release said
the principal investigators on the clinical trial are Ron
Mitsayasu of
UCLA and Jacob
P. Lalezari of Quest
Clinical Research of
San Francisco. Quest is currently soliciting patients for the
clinical trial as well as UCLA. (Persons interested in participating
in the trial can find email contacts at
this website.
Twelve are needed.)

The
principal investigators on the CIRM award are Irvin Chen of
UCLA and Geoff Symonds of Calimmune.  

Here are links to the CIRM press release on the subject and the agency's blog item.

(An earlier version of this story did not include the fact that Calimmune's share of the CIRM award was $8.2 million or the links to the agency press release and blog.)

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/Zot_z3D2WnI/hiv-clinical-trial-hailed-by-california.html

Linda Marban Capricor photo

“Nile
will issue to Capricor stockholders shares of Nile common stock such
that Capricor stockholders will own approximately 90% of the combined
company's outstanding shares, and Nile stockholders will own
approximately 10%, calculated in each case on a fully-diluted basis
assuming the issuance of shares underlying options and warrants.
Options of Capricor will be assumed by Nile and become options to
acquire stock of Nile.”

"Capricor's
and Nile's product portfolios complement each other well, as our
therapies will address both the underlying causes and debilitating
effects of heart disease. Capricor's CDCs are allogeneic cardiac
derived stem cells that aim to attenuate and potentially improve
damage to the heart that can result in heart failure, while Nile's
cenderitide is intended to treat patients following hospital
discharge from an acute episode of heart failure."

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/qqVK630tSl0/california-stem-cell-merger-capricor.html

“Proposition 71’s 'prohibition on
compensation' compels the ICOC(the agency's governing board) to adopt
standards 'prohibiting compensation to research donors.' This
requirement has been consistently interpreted to prohibit the use of
CIRM funds to financially compensate oocyte (or other cell or tissue)
donors. In 2006, this interpretation was extended to exclude from
use, in CIRM-funded research, any stem cell line where research
donors were financially compensated, even if the derivation was done
without the use of CIRM funds. Proposition 71, however, does not
compel the ICOC (the agency's governing board) to prohibit the use of
stem cell lines where financial compensation is provided to the
oocyte donors, provided that CIRM funds are not used to compensate
the donors or derive the lines.”

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/BF3kpSRnKXQ/eggs-and-cash-stem-cell-agency.html