CGS-authored
A new source of $750 million in funding could soon become available for the perennially cash-starved biotech industry, particularly stem cell firms.
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine will hold its first meeting to discuss a biotech loan program on Dec. 12 in Los Angeles, with a teleconference location in San Francisco.
The biotech "bank" is the brainchild of Robert Klein, a multimillionaire real estate investment banker who serves as the unpaid chairman of the California state agency, which is the world's largest source of funding for human embryonic stem cell research. The loan program could add as much as $1.5 billion to the $3 billion available to the agency, Klein said in an interview with Wired News.
"That amount could make a major contribution to research," he said.
Discussions of the loan program kick off weeks after California's comptroller ordered an audit of the institute following accusations of conflicts of interest. The biotech bank will be closely watched globally and possibly emulated. Already, six other states have come up with their own state-funded stem cell research, following California's program...
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine will hold its first meeting to discuss a biotech loan program on Dec. 12 in Los Angeles, with a teleconference location in San Francisco.
The biotech "bank" is the brainchild of Robert Klein, a multimillionaire real estate investment banker who serves as the unpaid chairman of the California state agency, which is the world's largest source of funding for human embryonic stem cell research. The loan program could add as much as $1.5 billion to the $3 billion available to the agency, Klein said in an interview with Wired News.
"That amount could make a major contribution to research," he said.
Discussions of the loan program kick off weeks after California's comptroller ordered an audit of the institute following accusations of conflicts of interest. The biotech bank will be closely watched globally and possibly emulated. Already, six other states have come up with their own state-funded stem cell research, following California's program...