The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) is a state agency that supports research and education in the fields of stem cell and gene therapies.
While I appreciate the substantial effort that Commission members and staff put into drafting the report, I am concerned that due to its rush to approve the report, the Commission gave disproportionate weight to CIRM's critics and did not consider a broader range of views on the complex issues that are the subject of the report.”[34] A 2008 “Review Of Conflict-Of-Interest Policies, Grant Administration, Administrative Expenses, And Expenditures,” by the State Controller’s office, which examined 18 straight months of the agency’s operations, found that “CIRM has extensive conflict-of-interest policies and processes that are modeled after and, in some instances, go beyond National Institute of Health requirements.
In general, the IOM recommended that the ICOC separate their responsibilities as executor and overseer and noted potential conflicts of interest among the CIRM board members.
[36] The IOM committee also recommended that CIRM organize a single Scientific Advisory Board with experts in stem cell biology and cell-based therapies.
[37] In February 2013, CIRM reviewers evaluated applications for genomics awards but, for the first time, declined to send any grant proposals to the board for a final decision.
[37] The CIRM President, Alan Trounson, became involved in the selection process and the final decision was to fund the Stanford project only, totaling $40 million.
The CIRM grant review and scoring process and the role of President Trounson have been questioned, especially by those that did not receive funding like Jeanne Loring from the stem cell program at Scripps Research Institute.