Showing posts with label cirm priorities. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cirm priorities. Show all posts

Thursday, June 19, 2014

New California Stem Cell CEO and his Criteria for Handing Out Cash

The new president of the $3 billion California stem cell agency, Randy Mills, will bring his stump speech to San Diego next week where more than 10,000 biotech business types are expected to gather in perhaps the largest such meeting in the nation.

Randy Mills
Mills has scheduled a public appearance, with questions from the audience, for next Tuesday at the Manchester Grand Hyatt hotel. He will also moderate a panel at the BIO 2014 convention on commercializing stem cell therapies, a subject with which he is intimately familiar. Mills was head of Osiris Therapeutics as it slogged its way to approval of a stem cell therapy.  Linda Marban, CEO of the CIRM-funded and publicly traded Capricor, will be one of the speakers on the panel.

Mills has been on the job fulltime only since June 1. He has made two public appearances this month, one in San Francisco, where the agency is based, and one in Los Angeles. Kevin McCormack, senior director of public communications for the agency, wrote about one session last week. 
“Randy began by saying that he has a simple guiding principle; that everything we do at the agency should be ‘all about the patients.’ In fleshing that out, he identified four criteria that he will use in making any decision:
“1. Will it speed up the development of treatments for patients?
“2. Will it increase the likelihood of developing a successful treatment for patients?
“3. Will it meet an unmet medical need?
“4. Is it efficient?
“He says those criteria will help make sure that everything we do at the stem cell agency is in alignment with our goals; that we aren’t funding work that could easily attract funding from other agencies or even the pharmaceutical industry.”
McCormack continued,
“For the scientists, Randy said his goal was to give them as much support as they needed, particularly in the areas where they may not be very experienced – such as moving products into clinical trials, getting approval from regulatory agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and commercializing a potential therapy.” 
 The San Diego public meeting next Tuesday will be from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the  Grand Hyatt, 1 Market Place, in the Gas Lamp rooms, A & B.

Other top stem cell agency officials scheduled to be at the BIO convention, which could hit 16,000 attendees, include Chairman Jonathan Thomas, former President Alan Trounson and senior vice president Ellen Feigal.

Here is the list of events for the Regenerative Medicine Day, which the stem cell agency is co-sponsoring, at  BIO next Wednesday, including speakers.

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

The Podesta Watch: White House Visits, Red Shoes and 61 Percent Gains

Tony Podesta, the California stem cell agency's man on the Potomac, is making news again, largely for flashy fundraising and access to the Obama White House.

Podesta was hired as a federal lobbyist by CIRM last February under a 10-month, $240,000 contract. California state agencies, rarely if ever, hire federal lobbyists, although the state does maintain a lobbyist on the state payroll in Washingon.

Podesta visited the White House five times in six months, but the clients were not identified. Our guess is that they did not include CIRM. So far, CIRM Chairman Robert Klein has not reported publicly to his board of directors on what California taxpayers are receiving for their money. Podesta's contract with CIRM is due to expire in December but could be extended.

Here is a rundown on recent Podesta stories:

Podestas Rule Washington and Obama Guest List” – US News and World Report – The story says it shows “the power of the Podesta family. Between them, Obama adviser and former Clinton Chief of Staff John Podesta; his brother, lobbyist Tony Podesta; and Tony's lobbying wife Heather made 25 visits. By comparison, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made one visit.”

Holdouts to Obama's Vow to Change” – Commentary by Albert R. Hunt, formerly of the Wall Street Journal and now of Bloomberg, “Heather and Tony Podesta are conscientious objectors to the culture of change in Washington. The husband and wife, with separate lobbying firms, are raking in millions from the insurance and drug industries, tobacco companies and corporate interests fighting changes to labor laws or the overhaul of the student-loan program.” In New York Times also.

Tony Podesta Scoops Up Nearly $19 million in Third Quarter, Up 61 percent – National Journal

"Tony Podesta has happy feet for 65th birthday” – Washington Examiner - Podesta and friends celebrate his birthday at a high-profile fete wearing red shoes.

Big money buys seats at lawmakers' dinner tables” – Washington Times --Heather Podesta, wife of Tony and a lobbyist herself, throw fundraiser at her $2 million home

Then there is this paean to Heather Podesta in the Washington Post in August that had, as they say, tongues wagging along the Potomac.

Releasing the names of the White House visitors was a first. The Bush administration refused to do so. Initially Obama adopted that position but wisely changed his mind. The release of the list attracted a great deal of coverage because of its novelty but that will diminish.

Here is a link to the White House list of Podesta visits.

As readers may recall, we have raised questions about the effectiveness and propriety of CIRM's efforts to become a player in Washington politics. We do not object to CIRM making its voice heard in Congress nor particularly in Sacramento. But CIRM has more than enough laundry to take care of in the Golden State. Attempting to become a major influence in Washington will require funds and time that CIRM cannot afford.

Here is a link to one article on the subject. You can also search on the terms “podesta” and “lobbying.”

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