Some six years later, with about $1.1 billion dispersed, there have been $270 million worth of impressive new labs built, research papers published, and respected scientists hired at exorbitant salaries, but no miracle cures or even marketable therapies. And none is likely for years, if not decades, to come. The promised financial payback for the financially strapped citizens of California is also far off.
Before the money runs out, Silicon Valley real estate developer and Prop 71 architect Bob Klein, who now heads the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), is laying plans to hit voters for another $3 billion in bonds in 2014. It's based largely on his personal belief that "there will be some remarkable new therapies that will save lives and mitigate suffering substantially."
There already are. But they're coming from work with adult stem cells and umbilical-cord blood, not embryonic stem cells.
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