Scientific Structures: Dominence and Strength

By Jennifer Lahl

My colleague, Evan Rosa, has a great piece here on the recent approval of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) to award $271 million dollars in facilities grants to 12 academic and research institutions. 800,000 square feet of buildings to be erected by 2010 for the purpose of embryonic stem cell and human cloning research funded by the California taxpayers.
10 of the 12 buildings will be on university campuses. Like the University of California, Berkeley's Li Ka Shing Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences, which will boast 60,000 square-feet and 12 labs dedicated to embryonic stem cell research.

Rosa writes, "Structures are suggestive . And these buildings, bought on the Prop 71 budget, suggest something radical: academic, political and cultural approval of (human) embryonic stem cell research. They are monuments—monoliths even—of scientific dominance and strength.

Even Robert Klein, chairman of CIRM's governing agency , agrees, "This Prop 71 stem cell research facilities program is one of the largest building programs ever dedicated for a new field of medical science and it will deliver an impact that will be felt worldwide."

Consider this final thought: Klein also responds to the May 7, 2008, hESC research facilities decision that "[California research institutions'] incredible commitment [of funding] underscores the promise that stem cell research holds for patients suffering from chronic disease and injury."

There's that word again. Promise . For such a politically skeptical culture—people so wary of the easy words of our would-be leaders—we sure have exhibited a lot of faith in the "promise" scientists and politicians are making for human embryos. We're betting $271 million (and who knows how many human lives?) on that promise this month, and by 2010 and beyond we'll see how these structures stack up: memorials or mausoleums?"

Dark Clouds on CIRM Horizon?

The deconstruction of the CIRM, enacted by California, is earnestly to be wished. That won't happen, but at the very least, given its many troubles, a good reorganization is needed. That is apparently the idea behind a bill in California. From the story in Entrepreneur.Com (no link):

California Sen. Sheila Kuehl introduced a bill Friday to study the structure of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine--the agency created to distribute $3 billion in state bond funds for embryonic stem cell research--and to require therapies from the research to help the state's neediest residents. Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, and Sen. George Runner, R-Lancaster, authored the legislation, S.B. 1565.The Kuehl-Runner bill requires that publicly funded programs get the best prices for stem cell therapies and drugs by requiring CIRM grant winners and licensees to sell them to those programs at a price that does not exceed one of the benchmark prices in Cal-Rx, the state's prescription drug discount program.The bill also calls for the state's Little Hoover Commission to study the existing governance structure of San Francisco-based CIRM and report to the Legislature by July 1, 2009..."The bill will ... help ensure the public's trust by identifying ways to increase public accountability and reduce conflicts of interest," Kuehl said in a prepared statement.

Poor Sheila actually bought the propaganda about the researchers paying back the state if they hit the jackpot. I think I'll try to sell her that worthless swampland I inherited. Expect the entrepreneurs of science to push back hard on this one.

CIRM Executives Up for a Big Fat Raise

California is in the midst of a financial meltdown. Red ink is spilling down the stairs of the Capitol. But of course, none of this affects the fiefdom that is the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine created by Proposition 71. As I wrote during the campaign, under its terms half the state could fall in the ocean and we put upon California taxpayers would still have to borrow $300 million to put into the pockets of private biotech companies and their business partners at the universities.

And now, more! The top executives at the CIRM may be getting a big fat raise. From the watch dog press release:

The California stem cell agency is proposing raising salary ranges for top employees a whopping 50 percent, an increase that is unjustified in the face of a state budget crisis, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR) said today.

The proposal, to be considered by the stem cell agency's Governance Committee on Wednesday, comes after a $65,000, 41 percent, pay raise given to the agency's general counsel, Tamar Pachter, in December after 10 months on the job. With the increase Pachter now makes $225,000, more than state Attorney General Jerry Brown's annual salary of $184,301. Pachter was a state deputy attorney general when she was hired by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) last spring at a salary of $160,000."They are demonstrating a particularly tone-deaf action at a time when the state faces a serious budget crisis," said John M. Simpson, FTCR Stem Cell Project Director. "These salaries and proposed ranges are simply too high for an agency that when fully staffed will have a total of 50 employees. For comparison, the governor's salary is set at $212,179."

The Governance Committee is being asked to set the top salary range for the oversight committee chairman and the agency's president at $618,750, a 50 percent increase from the current top of $412,500. The new president, Alan Trounson, is being paid $490,000, an amount already above the current official range of $275,000 to $412,500. Chairman Robert Klein has declined to take a salary.

The elitism and sense of entitlement is so thick it seem impenetrable. At least, one would think this travesty would be big news in the California media that so hates privilege and which acted as so many in-the-tank boosters for this benighted measure when it was up for a vote.

But so far, we hear the chirping of crickets. Hey, I know! The MSM will report it after the raises are given--just like they finally reported the many problems with Proposition 71 after the election was held.

Borrowed Taxpayers' Money Paying for PR Firm in Another Proposition 71 Snafu

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) would be laughable if it weren't so expensive and engaged in funding immoral research with borrowed money that I and every other Californian will have to pay back. The latest shinanigan was exposed by the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, which found that the wholly publicly funded (again, using borrowed money) CIRM hired an outside PR firm to deal with a news story its leadership didn't like. From the Foundation's press release:

Documents detailing the California stem cell institute's involvement with a well-known "crisis management" public relations firm reveal an agency leadership worried about the state agency's image and committed to keeping PR advice secret by channeling it through an outside law firm, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR) said today.

The stem cell institute, a public body formed to spend taxpayer-approved funds on research, paid the PR agency with money funneled through the law firm, according to documents obtained by FTCR. The PR agency then apparently funneled its advice back through the law firm. The stem cell agency used the tactic to claim legal "confidentiality" on public relations strategies at a time of negative publicity over apparent conflicts of interest among board members.

And there was a little money laundering going on: The CIRM had the law firm hire the PR firm, and then funneled the payments from CIRM to the PR firm through the law firm--classic money laundering that made the payment look like legal fees:

Under the deal worked out with Rubenstein, the PR firm received $10,000 for its advice on CIRM's behalf. However the agreement is technically with Remcho. The letter of agreement with Remcho says, "As part of our services, Rubenstein will provide Remcho, Johansen & Purcell with strategic public relations advice and guidance relative to general corporate matters affecting the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine... Rubenstein's work on this matter will be considered part of your work product and will be governed, to the extent permitted by law, by attorney/client privilege." But the letter makes clear who is paying for the advice. It's taxpayer dollars.

Arrogance, thy name is CIRM.

More Trouble at California Institute of Regenerative Medicine

Proposition 71 established a closed doors grant approval process, in which the CIRM doles out hundreds of millions of borrowed taxpayers dollars to private industry and public entities to conduct human cloning and embryonic stem cell (and related) research. All has not gone well so far, with key personnel resigning, and now $3 million in grants having to be taken back. From the Wired report:

SAN DIEGO -- The California Institute of Regenerative Medicine is having more trouble than it may have expected giving away millions of dollars to stem-cell researchers.

One grant application was withdrawn by the applicant, and one grant was rescinded by the agency, after investigations turned up information that made CIRM directors reconsider handing over more than $3 million. Critics say the agency's secretive grant-approval process is at fault, and that a more open process would have found problems with the grant candidates sooner. But better late than never: They also say the results of the administrative reviews raise confidence in the agency's integrity...

One grant recipient, CHA Regenerative Medicine Institute of Los Angeles, turned down a $2.6 million grant following a lengthy administrative review by the stem-cell agency, said Arlene Chiu, CIRM's chief scientific officer, at a Wednesday meeting in San Diego. The grant had been awarded in March, but a lawsuit and accusations of plagiarism involving the head of CHA's parent company soon raised questions about how worthy the recipient really was...

Another grant approved by CIRM directors in spring 2007 was rejected during the administrative review the agency conducts on all approved grants before sending out any checks, Chiu said. The principal investigator on the $638,000 grant, David Smotrich, did not meet the necessary criteria of being an on-site, full-time employee of the Burnham Institute in La Jolla, California.

CIRM directors had approved the grants after a controversial closed-door review failed to turn up the controversy surrounding Cha.

Following disclosure of the CHA controversy by Wired News and other media outlets, critics including Simpson criticized CIRM's secretive grant-award process.

Mark my words, we will see more of this as time progresses. The biotech industry today reminds me of the wildcatters during the early oil industry days. Now, as then, there is going to be a mad scramble to strike it rich. People will be digging metaphoric wells all over the place. There will be fast operators and even faster talkers. Most ventures will fail, but a few will become billionaires. In such an atmosphere, watch your wallets!