CGS-authored
By approving a proposition Tuesday that will make $3 billion in state funds available over the next decade for stem cell research, California voters made the state the likely world center for science that may one day lead to treatments for some of the world's most devastating diseases.
"This dwarfs what any other political entity in the world is spending," said David Greenwood, executive vice president of Menlo Park-based Geron Corp., which owns 15 U.S. stem cell patents and has filed for 200 more.
It makes California the best place to be to conduct stem cell research, said Bob Lanza, vice president of scientific development at Advanced Cell Technologies in Massachusetts. He said the 15-employee company plans to open an office in California.
The measure, Proposition 71, establishes the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, which will dole out about $300 million annually in grants over the next decade. It will cost the taxpayers about $6 billion to repay the tax-exempt bonds that will fund the research.
One day after the initiative passed, research...