State-funded embryonic stem cell research may be geared to solving medical mysteries. But California’s efforts to secure affordable access to any resulting drugs — and a cut of their potential profits — are only generating more “what ifs” from bioscience firms and their attorneys.
Intellectual property practitioners say current legislation that would stake a state claim to $3 billion in future bond-funded stem cell research is, in parts, vague and vulnerable to challenge. And their clients, some of California’s largest bioscience companies, don’t like the bill’s proposed 25 percent state take on net licensing revenues.
