California Stem Cell Agency Still in Talks on $40 Million for StemCells, Inc.

The sticking point is the $40 million
in matching funds required from the Newark, Ca., firm under the terms
of the two awards approved in July and September. The latter award
was okayed on a 7-5 vote by the governing board after it was rejected
twice by the agency's reviewers.

On Monday the California Stem Cell
Report queried the agency about the status of the awards. Kevin
McCormack, the agency's spokesman, replied,

He did not elaborate further.

CIRM staff normally reviews
applications after they are approved by the agency's governing board
to be sure that all conditions are being met. However, in the case of
the September award to StemCells, Inc., CIRM's governing board took
the unusual step of publicly stating that the firm must demonstrate
it has the $20 million in matching funds before it receives any
payments from CIRM. The board did not take that sort of public
position on the $20 million grant approved earlier in the summer,
although matching funds are required in that case as well.

The former chairman of the $3 billion
stem cell agency, Robert Klein, appeared twice before the board to
lobby for approval of the second award to StemCells, Inc., which is a
publicly traded firm.. It was the first such appearance by Klein
before his former colleagues since leaving the agency in June 2011.

Action on the StemCells, Inc., awards
attracted attention from the Los Angeles Times last month. Pulitzer
Prize-winning columnist Michael Hiltzik wrote that the process was “redolent of cronyism.” He said a “charmed relationship”
existed among StemCells, Inc., its “powerful friends” and the
stem cell agency.