The decision comes after months of litigation, in which groups with ties to the anti-abortion movement had challenged the constitutionality of Proposition 71 – the measure that voters resoundingly approved in 2004 to provide $3 billion in state funds for stem cell research over the next 10 years.
State court judge Bonnie Lewman Sabraw has ruled that the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), which was established by Prop 71 to allocate the funds, could begin raising and allocating research money.
Federal restrictions enacted by the Bush administration make it illegal to work with some stem cell lines in facilities funded through federal grants, making it necessary to build new space for the research.
In spite of the legal challenge, the CIRM had already managed to begin raising some money for stem cell work, although it involved a different financing method than had been planned when the institute was first established. On April 10, 2006 the CIRM was able to fund a first round of grants by selling bond anticipatory notes to six investors. Those grants will fund 169 stem cell research trainees for the next three years. Stanford University School of Medicine was one of nine recipients of those funds.
“The training grants, while they’re in service of research by training people to work with stem cells, would not actually allow the research to go forward,” said Dr Irving Weissman, director of the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. But if Judge Sabraw’s decision goes unchallenged, the CIRM can now provide money to build new facilities and then begin funding researchers trying to find cures for diseases.
The ruling also comes after a number of media reports highlighting how the California stem cell effort had appeared to have stalled. With this ruling, Dr Weissman said California would continue to be attractive to stem cell researchers worldwide.