Current Federal Law and Policy 
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See, for instance, the presentation of Thomas Okarma, President and CEO of Geron 
Corporation, before the Council on September 4, 2003. The full transcript of Okarma' s 
presentation may be found on the Council’s website at www.bioethics.gov. 
Lysaght, M.J., and Hazlehurst, A.L., “Private Sector Development of Stem Cell 
Technology and Therapeutic Cloning," Tissue Engineering 9(3); 555-561 (2003). 
The dollar amount spent specifically on embryonic stem cell research in the private 
sector is not apparent from Lysaght and Hazlehurst’ s survey. The $70 million figure is 
drawm firom a presentation before the Council by Thomas Okarma, President and CEO 
of Geron Corporation, the oldest and largest of the private companies involved in 
embryonic stem cell research. Okarma told the Council, speaking only of Geron, “We 
have spent over $70 million on this technology, most of it since 1999 after the cells 
were derived. That’s a number against which the NIH disbursements pale by both 
absolute and relative terms.” The full transcript of Okarma’ s presentation may be 
found on the Council’s website at vrww.bioethics.gov. 
Ibid., and see also (for instance) Mitchell, S., “U.S. stem cell policy deters investors," 
The Washington Times, November 2, 2002 (original source: UPI). 
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