Big Pharma Giant Johnson & Johnson (J & J; $JNJ) announced today a $12.5 million investment in stem cells & regenerative medicine via the small biotech Capricor ($CAPR) and the potential for the bet to go into the hundreds of millions for the heart disease program. It was only 8 days ago that I made …
J&J Bets Up to $325 million on Capricor: Big Pharma Stem Cell Move as Predicted for 2014 Read More »
Each year I make predictions for the stem cell field for the coming year. In today’s post I write about my top 10 stem cell predictions for 2014. You can see my predictions for 2013 here (see predictions for 2011 and 2012 predictions, which are kind of fun to read to see what was on the “mind” of the field …
I’ve added a fun and helpful new feature on the right side bar of the blog in the form of a stem cell biotech stock ticker. The ticker is for some of the most widely held stem and cellular medicine companies. A sample screen shot is shown in this post. Quite a few stem cell-related …
Where do things stand with some players in the for-profit world of stem cell and cellular medicine companies? Here are a few brief news items with quick analysis. Mesoblast is dominating the news of late. Mesoblast reported good news from its Phase II safety trial for its mesenchymal progenitor cell (MPC) product in patients with …
Who might make a fantastic new CIRM President? The California stem cell community is abuzz with this question. This new President will not only lead CIRM today, but also in all likelihood will steer CIRM in its new incarnation after 2017, what I’ve called CIRM 2.0. At least that would be ideal. CIRM has posted a …
What does the future hold for the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), also known as the California Stem Cell Agency? While new CIRM grants should be awarded up until 2017, CIRM is rightly thinking about its future. Californians should be paying attention and thinking ahead too. You might say that since I’m a CIRM …
The Case for CIRM 2.0: Continuing California’s Stem Cell Leadership Read More »
Osiris, a cellular therapy biotech, recently received a so-called “untitled letter” from the FDA. The text of the letter seems on the whole negative in my opinion, while the company’s public reaction to the letter on the other hand could be seen paradoxically as rather cheery. What’s going on here? With Halloween coming, one has …
If there was one stem cell meeting I would absolutely not want to miss next month in November if at all possible, it is the 2013 World Alliance Forum “Future of Stem Cells” in San Francisco. Are you going? Win free tickets to this meeting here! Unfortunately I have a conflict so I will this …
World Alliance Forum “Future of Stem Cells” features Shinya Yamanaka Read More »
The Australian stem cell biotech Mesoblast (MSB) has reportedly reached a deal with the American stem cell biotech Osiris (OSIR) to buy Osiris’ mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) unit. This is a big development in the MSC field. Osiris and Mesoblast are two major players in this particular subfield of the stem cell world so this deal, …
Mesoblast (MSB) buys Osiris (OSIR) stem cell unit Read More »
Nominations for Stem Cell Person of the Year 2013 closed last night and I ended up with a remarkable list of 30 nominees. I have included a few sentences about each one below, often taking verbiage directly from the nominator. The online voting on these nominees will start soon. The top vote getters will move …