President Obama’s lifting of an eight-year-old federal funding ban for certain types of stem cell research earlier this month will open up career paths for younger medical students, according to researchers.
Some students have been scared off of stem cell research because of a lack of governmental support and funding. But that could be about to change.
“You can actually imagine how difficult it is for a young student embarking on a Ph.D. deciding to become a specialist in an area when they don’t quite know whether that area is going to become completely illegal,” said Hans Keirstead, co-director at the University of California, Irvine’s Sue and Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center and a professor at UC Irvine’s Reeve-Irvine Research Center.
The president’s decision, which will free up federal research money for embryonic stem cell re-search later this year, should assure that “the next generation of re-searchers exists and actually flourishes,” Keirstead said.
“Young scientists, in my opinion, are fairly careful about what they do, so now I think that students and post-docs will see (stem cell is) a stable field to be in,” said Peter Donovan, Keirstead’s co-director at the Gross Research Center.
Federal embryonic stem cell research funding had been eliminated by President Bush in 2001. To make up the difference in funding, researchers such as Keirstead sought partnerships with biotechnology companies and other investors.
That effort made Keirstead one of the higher-profile scientists in stem cell research. He was asked to brief members of Congress on stem cell research in Washington, D.C., last week. Keirstead was joined by Robert Klein, a spinal cord injury research advocate, and Thomas Okarma, chief executive of Geron Corp., a Menlo Park-based biotech company.
Keirstead talked about his newly developed stem cell therapy for acute spinal cord injuries with lawmakers. Geron will be conducting clinical trials for the therapy via a license granted by UCI.
The researcher also stressed the need for collaboration between academia and industry, saying the union “is critical to moving new therapies from the laboratory to the clinic.”
Keirstead chairs the scientific advisory board of California Stem Cell Inc., an Irvine company that’s attempting to commercialize therapies for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, and other ailments.
Quality’s Solid Stock
Wall Street darling Quality Systems Inc. of Irvine added to its reputation after a positive review from the Wall Street Journal’s Web site earlier this month.
“I was instantly captivated by Qual-
ity Systems,” said James B. Stewart, a SmartMoney.com columnist, in a Wall Street Journal article that detailed his efforts to buy certain stocks.
Quality Systems makes software that doctors and dentists use to manage their practices. The company’s stock price has grown this decade as medical offices go paperless.
Like many others, Stewart mentioned President Obama’s healthcare proposal, which has called for $20 billion in healthcare information technology spending.
“Obama’s healthcare proposals all but guarantee more data requirements, as well as a stress on cost reduction and efficiency. What could be more timely?” Stewart asked.
Stewart was looking for stocks that had a dividend yield of at least 3%, and he said he also wanted growth companies to make sure that dividends were secure and would “benefit from any recovery.”
Correction
In the March 16 edition of the Business Journal, the mergers and acquisitions list incorrectly listed Endologix Inc., an Irvine medical device maker, as being bought by private equity firm Elliott Associates LP, a New York hedge fund that also tried to buy Irvine’s Epicor Software Corp. An Endologix representative said the company’s board decided in November not to accept the unsolicited takeover bid from Elliott, which owns 6.3 million shares, or about 14% of Endologix. The company makes devices for treating ballooning blood vessels.
Bits and Pieces:
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, an Aliso Viejo drug maker, said that Anders Lonner, chief executive of Swedish drug maker Meda AB, is a new member of its board. Lonner’s selection brings Valeant’s board to eight members; a spokeswoman said there is another vacancy that’s not yet been filled. Valeant sold much of its European operations to Meda in August for about $400 million Lake Forest device maker I-Flow Corp. said the Food and Drug Administration cleared its wound gel that’s made with silver. The gel is made by AcryMed Corp., I-Flow’s Beaverton, Ore.-based subsidiary Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Inc., an Irvine drug maker, has acquired a 100% interest in RIT Oncology LLC, a venture of Spectrum and Seattle-based Cell Therapeutics Inc. The two have been marketing Zevalin, a cancer drug. Spectrum is responsible for all manufacturing, sales, marketing and commercialization activities for Zevalin CombiMatrix Corp., a medical testing company that’s part of Newport Beach-based Acacia Research Corp., said its non-invasive cancer screening test was effective in early diagnosis. CombiMatrix, which has an Irvine laboratory, said the study focused on prostate, colon, ovarian, breast and lung cancers.
