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February 8, 2006 Diverse Stakeholders Address Overcoming Hurdles To Stem Cell Medicine SAN FRANCISCO – More than 250 representatives from academia, state and national governments, private foundations and industry from around the world gathered in San Francisco yesterday for the first annual International Symposium on Stem Cell Collaboration. The forum was designed to identify and discuss hurdles to moving stem cell developments from a laboratory to commercial reality. Speakers from eight countries agreed that collaboration is necessary to speed that process. “Truly effective and sustained collaboration between experts in a wide range of fields, including basic science, intellectual property, medical ethics, clinical research, public policy, capital investment, manufacturing and commercialization is critical, but won’t just happen on its own,” says Cori Gorman, Ph.D., MBA, one of the conference organizers, and chief executive officer of DNA Bridges. “We needed a forum to bring these stakeholders together and identify new models for cooperation.” Stem cell research holds the potential to address chronic, debilitating and fatal diseases that affect a wide range of individuals, including those with diabetes, spinal cord injuries, Parkinson’s disease and heart disease. The research may also provide more efficient drug discovery and testing methodologies. Increasingly well-funded laboratory initiatives are making rapid progress, with seminal breakthroughs happening recently in centers around the world. Through the passage of last year's Proposition 71, California alone has committed $3 billion to stem cell research over the next decade. However, translating these discoveries into widely available therapeutic or regenerative interventions will require new solutions to problems as diverse as scalable manufacturing, patent and licensing conflicts, and financial risk tolerance. “The importance of this conference for the academics involved in regenerative biology is particularly acute,” says Dr. Nadia Rosenthal, head of Mouse Biology Program, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL). “This is a unique opportunity for academics like me to meet industry members in a forum that is very conducive to collaboration. Without events like this, we cannot help each other in our goal of pushing this technology forward.” Organizers of yesterday’s conference, The Women's Technology Cluster (WTC), together with lead sponsors DNA Bridges, Inc., University of California Industry-University Cooperative Research Program and the U.C. Discovery Grant, and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, created the event to be a catalyst for collaboration between key international groups. "The conference highlighted several
examples of collaboration including several at the international
level amongst scientists and governments. Speakers and participants
explored insights that could be gained from these in order to
further the development of effective collaboration models" commented
Jennifer McFarlane, CEO Women's Technology Cluster, which helps
women-led biotech companies commercialize their technologies. The Women's Technology Cluster The Women's Technology Cluster is a non-profit organization designed to increase the number of successful women-led companies in the life science, high technology, and clean technology sectors. The WTC invites high-potential, early-stage companies with at least one woman in an executive or founding role to join its portfolio. Through their dedicated mentor community of over 150 proven chief executive officers, investors, and industry experts, members provide extensive advisory services, coaching, and access to business and capital networks for their portfolio companies. DNA Bridges,® Inc. The DNA Bridges,® Inc. team of consultants represents the top talent in the life sciences industry. Our clients and partners include biotechnology, pharmaceutical, academic and government organizations. DNA Bridges applies sound research, strategic planning and intelligent solutions to help its clients. Additionally, we use innovative thinking to accelerate the delivery of safe and effective therapeutics to market. For more information, please visit http://www.dnabridges.com. X PRIZE Foundation The X PRIZE Foundation has been described as the modern day version of the Nobel Prize. However, instead of rewarding and acknowledging things that have happened in the past, the X PRIZE creates high profile incentive prizes that seek to create radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity. The X PRIZE is most well known for their first prize, a $10 million prize they created for the world's first successful private space flight. For more information, please visit http:///www.xprize.org. Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP is an international law firm with over 900 attorneys in 16 offices, including San Francisco, New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and London. In business for more than 130 years, Pillsbury’s practice focuses on capital markets and finance, energy, global sourcing, litigation, real estate, technology, life sciences and communications. http://www.pillsburylaw.com The University of California Industry-University Cooperative Research Program The University of California Industry-University Cooperative Research Program provides state funding for matching grants with companies to support research in: biotechnology, communications and networking, digital media, electronics manufacturing and new materials, and information technology for life sciences. Its U.C. Discovery Grants fund peer-reviewed research projects at all 10 U.C. campuses, the three U.C.-managed National Laboratories, and the California Agricultural Experiment Station.
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