Posts Tagged: awards

News

Stem cell agency: Following the money — and its performance

A research scientist examines a capsule with a DNA double helix. (Photo: Dan Race, via Shutterstock)

One year ago this month, a $5.5 billion wave washed over California’s ambitious stem cell agency and left it refreshed and renewed for another decade or so of searching for “miraculous” treatments for a host of deadly, incurable afflictions. It is now on a pace to hand out $38,000 an hour, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  That would amount to $519 million in awards between this time last year and the end of the agency’s current fiscal year in June.

News

Stem cell agency gives out $2 million a minute

Close up of laboratory microscope with DNA gel background image. (Photo: 18percentgrey, via Shutterstock)

Directors of the California stem cell agency last week handed out $2 million a minute to nearly 20 organizations during an online meeting that spread the largess from Sacramento in the north to San Diego in the south. 

News

Ballot battle underway to keep stem cell agency alive

DNA is injected into a stem cell. (Photo: Spectral-Design, via Shuttertock)

The California stem cell agency has just finished pumping $5.3 million into the fight to save the lives of Covid-19 victims. And — in a ballot-box bonus — its efforts are already surfacing in the ballot campaign to rescue the agency from its own demise. The agency is running out of money. It will begin closing its doors this fall without major financial support that it hopes will come from Proposition 14, a $5.5 billion bond measure on the November ballot.

News

Stem cell agency officially files $5.5 billion ballot measure

Stem cells for treating cancer in microtubes. (Image: Science Photo, via Shutterstock)

Backers of the financially stressed California stem cell agency yesterday filed their proposed ballot measure to refinance the agency with $5.5 billion if voters approve it in November 2020. The complex, 30-page initiative  would also restructure a number of aspects of the agency and provide for financial assistance for patients and their families who might be involved in clinical trials.

News

Stem cell agency halts new grant applications

A stem cell researcher with microscope and digital tablet. (Photo: moreimages, via Shutterstock)

The $3 billion California stem cell agency, which is running out of cash, has served notice that it would stop accepting applications for more research awards beginning next month. The low key announcement on Thursday is another step towards the looming demise of the 14-year-old agency, created by voters in November 2004.

News

Strapped stem cell agency eyes tough options

Robert Klein addresses a meeting of two governing board committees of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. (Photo: David Jensen, California Stem Cell Report)

Facing the likelihood of a slow and withering death, the California stem cell agency is edging gingerly forward on a path of “cuts” and risky fund-raising in hopes that its research results will soon generate voter support for more billions of dollars. Two governing board committees of the $3 billion agency, formally known as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), on Monday. Nov. 27,  recommended that the full board “entertain” the proposals at its Dec. 14 meeting.

News

Lawyers, docs, insurers battle over MICRA — again

Medical personnel attend to a patient prior to surgery at USC Medical Center.

It’s not even on the ballot yet, but rival forces are gathering – again — over a plan to lift the decades-old cap on pain and suffering damages in medical malpractice cases. The proposal, aimed at the November ballot, also cracks down on drug- and alcohol-impaired physicians and seeks to curb over-prescribing of medications. (Above: USC Medical Center. US Navy photo)

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