California Finally Doles out Stem Cell Money

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine has finally distributed its first funding towards stem cell research, thanks to a bridge loan from San Francisco Bay Area venture capitalists and a baseball mogul who donated $14 million while the CIRM's funding remains mired in a lawsuit. The loan went to 16 research centers.

The California Stem Cell Report blog has a great summary of the coverage. David Jensen, the blogger and former a Sacramento reporter writes:

Terms of the CIRM loans call for a variable interest rate capped at 5 percent. First year interest costs are estimated at $600,000. Stem cell chairman Robert Klein said the money will be enough to fund the first year of the grants approved last September by the agency.

The funding is a significant step forward for the agency, which appears to be making headway after a shaky start last year. However, not all the critics are happy. And they have a very good point about the lack of transparency that still troubles CIRM despite Klein's repeated promises to adhere to the highest and best standards of openness and transparency.

In an editorial earlier this week, The Sacramento Bee, which is the flagship of the nation's second largest chain of newspapers, said the bridge loan process was "mired in secrecy."

He goes on to say that while the CIRM still has transparency problems, the bridge loan process was pretty open.