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Judge Rules in Favor of Stem Cell Research in State

The judge hearing the lawsuits to repeal $3 billion for stem cell research in California has sided with voters.

Both sides have said they expect an appeal by those who filed the suits heard in Alameda Superior Court , the People’s Advocate and National Tax Limitation Foundation. The suits charged that voter-approved Proposition 71 violates state law because it calls for appointed leaders to allocate funds.

The proposition was approved with 59 percent of the vote in 2004, and established the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, or CIRM, which would be responsible for allocating the money to research institutions. The judge upheld the proposition April 21.

Ed Holmes, UC San Diego’s vice chancellor of health sciences, is UCSD’s representative on the state stem cell agency board.

“While the legal aspect of this will continue for some time, the very definitive decision by Superior Court Judge Bonnie Lewman Sabraw helps CIRM go forward,” said Holmes. “It will help us secure more bond anticipation notes so we can move on right away.”

Last month, CIRM dispersed its first grants , $12.1 million , through notes purchased by investors that included a group of six philanthropic entities, according to the CIRM.

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Focusing On Sales:

San Diego’s Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc. nearly tripled expenses last quarter , mostly related to sales force efforts, but the company doesn’t yet have a product to sell.

Neurocrine expects, however, to hear from the Food and Drug Administration this month on whether the sleeping pill it is developing with Pfizer, Inc. will be approved.

The company, which released first-quarter financials April 24, reported that, overall, it spent $19.5 million last quarter, compared with $5.6 million the same time last year.

Pfizer provided more than eight times the amount of money last quarter to Neurocrine to gear up its sales force , $8.2 million compared with $1 million for the same period last year.

Neurocrine, which is the sixth-largest biotech in San Diego County with 364 local employees, has nearly 10 products in clinical trials.

Overall, its net loss for the first quarter was $25.9 million, compared with $18.8 million for the same period in 2005. The company reported comparable cash on hand: $264.5 million in first-quarter 2006 and $273.1 for the same period in 2005. The amounts also include marketable securities.

The company’s stock trades as NBIX on the Nasdaq and closed at $62.62, down 19 cents, on April 24, the day of the financial announcement.

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UCSD Leaders Heading East:

Ed Holmes, the vice chancellor of health sciences and dean of the medical school at UC San Diego, will leave one perfect climate for another this fall , from San Diego to Singapore.

After five years at UCSD, Holmes, 65, has accepted a position at the National University of Singapore and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research, or A*STAR, where he will oversee “translational medicine,” or the discipline of turning lab breakthroughs into practical treatments and technologies for patients. Holmes’ wife, Judith Swain, who serves as UCSD’s dean for translational medicine, will also head to Singapore, where she will be the founding director of the Singapore Institute for Clinical Science.

“I love working at UCSD,” Holmes said. “But I have reached a point in my career when I would like to experience new professional opportunities.”

Since it doesn’t get a lot colder than 70 degrees in Singapore, and one of the country’s four official languages is English, Holmes and Swain will fit right in when they head east in September.

Until then, Holmes will continue his job at UCSD, overseeing the academic, research and clinical programs of the School of Medicine, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, UCSD Medical Center, and the UCSD Medical Group.

In Singapore, he’ll be a professor of medicine, in addition to the executive deputy chairman for Clinical-Translational Sciences, fostering research collaborations among A*STAR research institutes, the National University of Singapore and hospitals and disease centers in Singapore.

Holmes was recruited to UC San Diego in 2000 from Duke University, where he was dean and vice chancellor of academic affairs at the School of Medicine.

UCSD Chancellor Marye Anne Fox said Holmes will remain a UCSD partner by helping to develop research and educational collaborations with Singapore’s A*STAR.

Fox said that Holmes put into place the College of Integrated Life Sciences, which offers a multidisciplinary educational program with a focus on dual degrees.

He also oversaw the launch of UCSD’s Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and the construction of a new building to house the school; the opening of the Moores UCSD Cancer Center; expansion of the Shiley Eye Center; building of the Leichtag Family Foundation Biomedical Research Facility; and approval for the Sulpizio Family Cardiovascular Center and expansion of Thornton Hospital.

Holmes was also part of the effort to create the San Diego Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, a four-way collaboration in stem cell research among UCSD, the Burnham Institute, the Salk Institute and the Scripps Research Institute.

Holmes said he will be living part time in Singapore and part time in San Diego. Holmes and Swain will be under contract for at least three years in Singapore, he said.

“We’ll be a part of San Diego for a long time,” Holmes said. “I hope we can help build bridges.”


Contact Katie Weeks with biotechnology news at

kweeks@sdbj.com

, or call her at (858) 277-6359.

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