Whither stem cell funding?
Is funding for stem cell companies drying up? Perhaps it depends who, and when, you ask. The Scientist's NewsBlog reports that the imminent demise of Advanced Cell Technology is just one piece of evidence that the field is not yet well developed enough to justify investment in for-profit firms. Two financial analysts cited in the post believe that while stem cell research, including that which uses embryos, has potential in the long run, "there is a relatively long road ahead of us to prove and develop these therapeutics."
Similarly, in the California stem cell research agency's first round of grants open to for-profits, all requests from such companies were denied.
But a few days after The Scientist's blog post, BioSpace reported that a new $225 million venture capital fund is being established to fund stem cell companies exclusively. This comes on the heels of a high-profile investment by the trend-setting Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers into a new firm specializing in induced pluripotent stem cells, a potential alternative to those from embryos. Perhaps not coincidentally, the managing partner of the new fund is a neighbor of Robert Klein, California's stem cell czar, in posh Portola Valley.
Previously on Biopolitical Times: