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CALIFORNIA: Venture Capital Money Backs California Stem Cell Measure By: PAUL ELIAS - Associated Press North County Times, CA Last modified Thursday, May 20, 2004 8:59 PM PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Venture capital contributions continued to flow to the group supporting a proposed ballot measure that would provide $3 billion for stem cell research while a fledgling opposition led by the Catholic Church has begun to organize. On Wednesday, venture capitalist Joseph Lacob, a partner with the heavyweight firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers of Woodside, contributed $500,000 and William Unger of Mayfield Venture Capital of Cupertino contributed $50,000, campaign finance records show. A month earlier, Kleiner Perkins partner John Doerr and his wife contributed $974,649 combined. Doerr, who owns a stake in Google Inc. that could be worth as much as $3 billion when the Internet search engine finally sells its stock to the public, didn't return telephone calls. In all, Silicon Valley venture capitalists and their families have contributed more than $1.8 million to a campaign that has raised about $5.3 million since late last year and is attempting to raise $20 million by the November election. Supporters submitted 1 million signatures to the secretary of state in April and the proposition is expected to soon qualify for the November ballot. What's more, two biotechnology pioneers also contributed to the campaign. George Rathmann, who co-founded Amgen Inc. and is now chairman of biotechnology company Nuvelo, has contributed $50,000. William Rutter, co-founder and chairman of Chiron Corp. contributed $50,000. Another biotechnology executive, Gilead Science Inc. vice president James Rooney has contributed $10,000. Human embryonic stem cells are created in the first days after conception and turn into all the tissue and organs that make a human body. Scientists hope to tame these master cells into treating and curing diseases such as diabetes, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. Many political conservatives and religious groups, including the Catholic Church, view the research as immoral because days-old embryos are destroyed during experiments. President Bush has severely limited the amount of federal funds available for this work, prompting researchers and patient groups to look to state governments and private sources for funding. The California initiative, if passed, would forbid the cloning of embryos to make babies but would permit it to create stem cells in labs. Scientists believe cloning could create therapies that won't lead to immune rejection problems in people. The measure would prohibit funding for research that involves the destruction of embryos older than 12 days. A successful proposition would make the state a stem cell research world leader and benefit California scientists and biotechnology companies working in the field. That's because the proposition promises to provide $295 million a year in funding for 10 years. Venture capitalists, however, said business interests had nothing to do with their contributions. "It's entirely personal, I'm a diabetic and have been for 38 years," said high-tech venture capitalist Michael Gordon, 40, who has contributed $250,000. Gordon is the managing partner of Palo Alto-based Meritech Capital Partners, which has no biotechnology investments. Kleiner Perkins, on the other hand, did help launch the biotechnology industry when it co-founded Genentech Inc. in 1976 and still invests widely in the industry. Kleiner's investments include Corixa Corp. and Incyte, which are developing diabetes treatments. South San Francisco-based Genentech is the world's second largest biotech company and one of the industry's few profitable firms. Lacob said his and other venture capital contributions were motivated not by money but by friendships with prominent Stanford University scientists Paul Berg and Irving Weissman, both of whom are outspoken supporters of the ballot measure. Berg is a Gilead board member and contributed $2,500 to the campaign. Stem cell expert Weissman is a board member of StemCells Inc., a struggling biotech company working in the field. "People know the people behind the initiative and the support has nothing to do with a profit goal," Lacob said. "It has to do with doing good." Fiona Sutton, a spokeswoman for the campaign, declined to comment on specific contributions. But she said that patient advocates such as the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation have been among the major contributors so far. The foundation has contributed $500,000 and real estate developer Robert Klein, whose son suffers from diabetes, has added more than $1 million. Meanwhile, Carol Hogan of the California Catholic Conference said its leaders voted last month to fight the initiative and that it has helped create a formal opposition to the campaign. "We think it's really outrageous to grant a constitutional right to conduct stem cell research," said Hogan, adding that the church believes only the richest patients will ultimately benefit from any breakthroughs. "And to obligate our state to more debt at this time is simply wrong." Hogan said groups opposing the measure had been meeting by telephone and have yet to raise any funds, though it's now accepting contributions. Hogan conceded the opposition can't compete financially with proponents and said opponents would be "lucky" to raise $1 million by the election. "We are appealing to the better angels of people's nature," she said. On the Net: Secretary of state elections page: http://cal-access.ss.ca.gov/ Kleiner Perkins: http://www.kpcb.com/index.php SOURCE: Associated Press / North County Times, CA http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/05/21/election2004/19_28_015_20_04.txt * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn