Kevin McCormack, senior director for
public communications for the agency, said BioTime will have to
compete in an upcoming award round if it wants to win California
dollars.
Responding to a question from the
California Stem Cell Report, McCormack said,
“That (earlier) loan was specific to Geron and when the trial was ended the loan ended too. Of course if Biotime and Geron do complete their deal then Biotime would be free to apply to us for a new disease team grant.”
McCormack later added that BioTime
could also compete in other appropriate rounds, including the
strategic partnership round just posted by CIRM. It provides for four
awards of up to $15 million. Funding could come as early as October
of next year. The strategic partnership round is a business-friendly
effort that is aimed at attracting “industry engagement and
investment.” The deadline for letters of intent is Dec. 18.
The stem cell agency made its $25
million loan to Geron in 2011 just a few months before the Menlo Park
firm abandoned its human embryonic stem cell trial for financial
reasons. (The full text of the loan agreement can be found here.) The company has repaid the loan with interest.
The company has tried to sell the
assets associated with the clinical trial since last November. The only public
interest that has surfaced has come from BioTime, Inc., of Alameda,
Ca. Michael West, founder of Geron, is the CEO of BioTime. Tom
Okarma, CEO of Geron from 1999 to 2011, is CEO of the BioTime
subsidiary that would assume the clinical trial.
News from clinical trial is expected to
be published soon, according to a story in the San Francisco Business
Times by Ron Leuty. He quoted CIRM President Alan Trounson as saying
that “some findings” from the trial would be published next month
in a medical journal.
Geron's stock traded at $1.24 at the
time of this writing today, up from $1.21 yesterday. BioTime's stock
stood at $2.99, up from $2.97.
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