According to an announcement on its website, the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine will be holding a meeting to discuss the establishment of a $750 million biotech bank. The loan program will make funds available to California-based biotechs pursuing revolutionary stem cell research. According to Wired, "The loan program could add as much as $1.5 billion to the $3 billion available to the agency."
The plan has already drawn both supporters and critics. Some see it as a creative way to get much-needed funds into the hands of small biotechs. Others, however, worry about possible conflict-of-interest issues, which have already plagued the Institute. There are also concerns that the loans will come with too many strings attached, and the biotechs will choose other, less restrictive funding methods
- see this Wired article more more