While Senate candidates Ben Cardin and Michael Steele woo black voters and fight over the “right” kind of stem cell research, Maryland and international companies are already jockeying for a slice of the $15 million in state funding for this research.
The Maryland Stem Cell Commission announced Wednesday the opening of its request for grant applications for both initial and advanced research on stem cell therapy.
“We are so glad to have that out,” said commission chair Linda Powers, a venture capitalist invested in biosciences. “We worked on it very intensively for months.”
The request drew fire for requiring that companies share results and stem cell lines generated with Maryland funding. However, Powers said the key distinction between Maryland funding and money available from the federal government and a handful of other states is in the focus on translating their work into practical therapy.
“There?s a significant emphasis on translation of the medical research into medical treatment,” she said. “If you don?t go onward with those research results, you never actually get to real medical results for the patients.”
Funding available through the National Institutes of Health has largely enabled pure research.
The answer? So far, resounding silence.
No news agencies covered the request for applications, and while Powers said they have received numerous calls from all over the world asking about the sharing provision, so far no bites. “I think people are kind of nervous about that requirement.”
The request specifies that results of any research must be published through the commission annually and any stem cell lines derived must be shared. Companies can patent their lines and recoup their costs, but cannot hoard their lines, Powers said.
If the silence continues, Powers said, they may reconsider those conditions.
