Union Tribune: Genoptix Inc., CEO, Tina Nova, appointed to ICOC stem cell committee
December 14, 2004
A committee that will oversee $3 billion in funding for stem cell research grew from 11 members to 22 yesterday.
State officials announced the series of new appointments in preparation for the committee's first meeting Friday. The new members included UCSD neuroscientist Leon Thal and San Diego biotechnology executive Tina Nova – bringing the number of San Diego representatives on the committee to five.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who appointed Thal, also nominated Robert Klein to serve as committee chair. Klein is the Portola Valley real estate executive who helped write Proposition 71, the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Act, and led the campaign for it.
Schwarzenegger also nominated Edward Penhoet, co-founder of the northern California biotech company Chiron Corp., as vice chair.
"I am committed to transparency . . . public oversight and accountability, and the highest ethical and medical standards possible," Klein said yesterday in a prepared statement.
"It's pretty sure that Mr. Klein will be the chair," said state Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento. She supports Proposition 71 but has proposed new regulations on how the oversight committee and working groups under it should conduct their business.
By Friday, the committee must have 27 members. State Treasurer Phil Angelides had not announced his five appointees late yesterday.
Naming a chair and vice chair for the Independent Citizen's Oversight Committee, or ICOC, will be among the first orders of business when its board members convene in San Francisco.
The committee will begin talks on how to oversee the $3 billion in tax money that's primed for investment over the next decade in research facilities statewide. Members, too, are expected to discuss how they will maintain public accountability and manage revenues related to royalties and licenses generated by stem cell research.
Another item on the agenda is where to build the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine – the state headquarters for stem cell work. Lobbying by scientists, biotechnology executives and others to place the institute in their area is expected to be intense.
The list of 22 committee members tallied yesterday included an array of talent, from scientists and medical school deans to biotechnology executives and movie executives who also volunteer as advocates for research into autism, cancer and other diseases.
Stem cells can morph into cells with specific purposes, such as nerve cells in the brain, islet cells in the pancreas and all the cells from the heart. Studying them may lead to cures for conditions such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and diabetes.
Besides Thal and Nova, who is CEO of the biotech company Genoptix Inc., the committee members from San Diego are: John C. Reed, president of the Burnham Institute; Richard Murphy, president of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies; and Ed Holmes, dean of UCSD's medical school.
They and others are expected to recuse themselves from votes on grants that would fund work at their own institutions. That could pose serious challenges for the group, because its members work at places deeply involved in stem cell research.
"It's going to be a challenge for this committee to ensure that it conducts its business in a way that isn't seen as being in any way biased," said Joe Panetta, head of the San Diego biotechnology trade group Biocom.
Panetta declined an appointment by Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante last week, in part because he said he could better serve biotechnology companies in San Diego by staying independent from the ICOC.
"There will be a lot of recusing going on," Panetta said of the conflicts of interest that committee members will face. "I told somebody this morning it's going to be like the musical chairs of recusement."