PALO ALTO, CA – City of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced his endorsement of Proposition 14 – the Californians for Stem Cell Research, Treatments and Cures Initiative of 2020 – that  appears on the November statewide ballot. Mayor Garcetti joins a growing coalition of more than 90 patient advocate organizations, hundreds of the world’s top scientists and physicians, leading business organizations, Nobel Prize winners, Governor Gavin Newsom, Lt. Governor Eleni Kounalakis, Secretary of State Alex Padilla, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, dozens of California’s state and local elected officials, the California Democratic Party and the University of California in supporting Proposition 14.   

Proposition 14 will renew funding for the continued advancement of treatments and cures that could save or improve the lives of millions living with chronic diseases and conditions, like cancer, Diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, stroke and even COVID-19. Proposition 14 will also help stimulate the state’s economy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic by creating jobs and generating additional tax revenue.

“The research funding that Proposition 14 protects has advanced groundbreaking treatments and cures and has helped L.A. become one of the world’s preeminent medical research hubs. Proposition 14 creates jobs and will save lives. Join me and vote yes on Proposition 14,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti, Mayor of Los Angeles.

California is ranked second in the world, as a nation, in biomedical research capacity. Prop 14 will sustain California’s world leadership in the stem cell revolution in replacing chronic therapies with early intervention therapies, restoring health and avoiding years of suffering and extraordinary health care costs.

California’s stem cell funding program has already saved and improved lives through the advancement of:

  • More than 90 clinical trials with more than 4,000 patients enrolled are advancing treatments for cancer, diabetes, heart disease, Sickle Cell, paralysis, age related blindness, Kidney Disease, COVID 19 and more.
  • 2 FDA-approved cancer treatments
  • 2 treatments designated as FDA Breakthrough Therapies, one of which has cured more than 50 babies who were born without functioning immune systems, more commonly known as the once fatal “bubble baby” disease. This technology is now being applied to help people with other immune disorders and deficiencies.
  • 7 therapies with Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy Designations – the equivalent of FDA Breakthrough Therapy Designation for cellular therapies. The results of these therapies have been remarkable:
    • Paralysis patients have regained upper body function.
    • Blind patients have started regaining their eyesight.
    • Patients with Type 1 Diabetes are producing their own insulin.
  • Nearly 3,000 published medical discoveries that are creating the basis for world leading clinical trials and new treatments.

In 2004, voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 71 with nearly 60% of the vote, establishing the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) to fund research and develop new treatments for chronic diseases and conditions that touch nearly all California families.

While the majority of these clinical trials are ongoing, a few examples of the remarkable, preliminary, clinical trial results to date include: cancer patients who had exhausted all other therapies, but are now in remission; Type 1 Diabetics who have begun producing insulin; fully paralyzed quadriplegics are regaining upper body function; and blind patients regaining their sight.

A USC study of the first Initiative’s economic benefits for California demonstrates Proposition 14 will provide a strong economic and jobs stimulus and it is expected to be leveraged by private matching funds. It is exactly the type of long-term investment we should make now to rebuild our economy. If the recent study results are adjusted for the size of the new Initiative, economic benefits of Proposition 14 would generate an estimated $20 billion in increased economic activity in California, $1.2 billion in additional tax revenues, and more than 100,000 jobs at every level. Proposition 14 will not require any State General Fund payments until 2026, and it will provide new revenues, from the added jobs, that outweigh the cost of the bonds until 2030.

The reality is that California is the only state with the infrastructure and intellectual capital to advance these clinical trials and medical discoveries through to widely available, FDA-approved treatments. While the federal government primarily funds early research, private funders almost exclusively invest in late-stage clinical trials where they can profit faster, at lower financial risk. This leaves a glaring funding gap for early and intermediate clinical trials, which often ends promising research. Prop 14 bridges this critical gap, ensuring that potential life-changing cures are not left stranded, by providing FDA clinical trial financing. California’s unique approach is one of the many reasons why California has been able to achieve progress faster than experts thought possible.

If Californians fail to pass Proposition 14, this vital research will come to a halt. Medical discoveries that are currently in the transitional pipeline will not be able to progress to clinical trials, delaying potential lifesaving and life-changing treatments for years, or even decades. Proposition 14 is a small investment to potentially save millions of lives and tens of billions of dollars in healthcare costs in the coming decades.

To learn more about Proposition 14, please visit YESon14.com.

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