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Anyone who cares about the advance of medical science and about the promise of biotechnology should be dismayed by how badly the California stem cell agency has handled its latest conflict-of-interest scandal.
We reported on the scandal last week, but developments since then are making it look worse.
The agency, known formally as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, or CIRM, continues to demonstrate the drawbacks of its insular, insider-like way of doing business. This is the legacy of Proposition 71, the 2004 ballot initiative that created the agency and made it immune from accountability to the state legislature--or practically speaking, any elected officials. CIRM's endowment comes from $3 billion in state bond funds backed by the taxpayers, who are also on the hook for $3 billion in interest, so the issues aren't trivial.
To recap the latest fiasco, CIRM's former president, Alan Trounson, accepted a position on the board of directors of one of its highest-profile grantees, Stem Cells Inc., on July 7, a mere seven days after leaving CIRM. The deal blindsided CIRM, which had...