[Blog] Who's funding stem cell research?

We've been arguing for a long time here that states have been spending more on human embryonic stem cell(hESC) research than the feds, and now we have some numbers to back it up. In a piece just posted on the Rockefeller Institute of Government website, we try to tote up who's spending how much on stem cell research in general and hESC in particular. While we can't be nearly as precise as we'd like, several things are clear..

+ The feds aren't spending much at all. Total stem cell allocations via NIH has been roughly flat at $640 million annually for the last couple of years. Only about six percent of that, or roughly $40 million annually, goes for hESC research.

+ States are spending more than the feds on hESC. California by itself has already obligated more than $200 million to hESC research, making it the largest hESC funder in the world. The California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the state agency which manages the stem cell program, is spending more than five times what NIH is spending...