Collapse of Big Pharma Deal Involving California Stem Cell Agency

Posted: December 9, 2012 at 8:00 am

A ballyhooed deal has blown apart that
would have hooked up – for the first time – Big Pharma and the $3
billion California stem cell agency.

The breakdown of the arrangement was
quietly disclosed yesterday in background material prepared for the
Dec. 12 meeting of the stem cell agency's governing board.
The deal was first announced Oct. 25
when Viacyte, Inc., of San Diego, received a $10.1 million award to
help finance a clinical trial for a diabetes treatment involving
Viacyte and GlaxoSmithKline.
The CIRM background memo said this week, however,

“We have recently been informed that
GSK was not able to obtain the final approval required due to
business reasons in the context of GSK's overall research and
development portfolio and investment needs and not as a result of any
scientific or technical assessment of ViaCyte's program.”

The memo gave no further details about
the Glaxo decision.
CIRM staff proposed that Viacyte, which
has received $36 million from CIRM, be given another $3 million
because Glaxo has exited the trial.
The arrangement involving Glaxo,
Viacyte and CIRM was trumpeted in October, when Viacyte was awarded
the $10 million. Officials of the stem cell agency said the award
was a “watershed” for CIRM. Jason Gardner, head of the Glaxo stem
cell unit and who attended the meeting, told the California Stem Cell
Report that the arrangement was a partnership and that the company
intended to develop a sustainable pipeline.
It was the second significant
business-connected deal that has collapsed for the $3 billion agency
within the last 13 months. In November 2011, Geron abandoned its
clinical trial for spinal injuries. CIRM had loaned Geron $25 million
for the trial just three months earlier. The company paid the money
back with interest.
CIRM staff said that advisors to the
agency remain “extremely positive” about the Viacyte research and
“strongly recommended” that the company receive the additional $3
million. The memo said that trial has a “strong potential” to be
commercialized.

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/p-E0ivzGfr0/collapse-of-big-pharma-deal-involving.html

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