UPDATE: Since I wrote this, Americans for Cures contacted me to say that Bob Klein will remain on the board of the organization but has resigned from the presidency.

The head of California’s stem cell funding agency has resigned from the presidency of a stem-cell advocacy group, according to a public interest group that monitors the government agency . Consumer Watchdog, a non-profit taxpayer advocacy group, has repeatedly denounced Robert Klein, the chair of the governing board of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), for conflicts of interest.

In 2004, Klein largely drafted and campaigned for Proposition 71, the legislation that led to the creation of CIRM, which is funded through $3 billion in state bonds to promote stem-cell research. Since then, Klein, a real-estate developer, has headed the boards both for CIRM and for the Americans for Cures Foundation, a stem-cell research advocacy group.

Consumer Watchdog’s John Simpson called for Klein’s resignation from either group after Americans for Cures derided a state legislator. Americans for Cures lambasted Senator Sheila Kuehl for sponsoring a bill that could limit the prices that CIRM-funded companies could charge for therapies. Advocates of SB 1565 say the legislation will ensure access to medical benefits from stem-cell research; critics believe it will discourage companies from developing cures. This has been chronicled extensively in the blog, California Stem Cells Report, which reports that both Klein and Americans for Cures have apologized. (See posts from July 10 to July 15.)

Staff at Americans for Cures would not officially confirm or deny that Klein had left the organization, nor would the group’s vice president for public policy, Don Reed. However, Reed did imply that the research-advocacy group would soon have a new president. “Bob is the flame of our faith, but he has to face the reality that he has so much work to do,” he said.

The most recent flap is not the first time that Simpson has called on Klein to resign. In November last year, Simpson said Klein demonstrated extremely poor judgment by encouraging John Reed, president of the Burnham Institute and a CIRM board member, to speak with CIRM staff when a Burnham researcher’s grant was denied.

(See my account of the incident here )

CIRM is an unprecedented organization with an unusual governing structure. Coverage of the agency by Nature and Nature Reports Stem Cell is nicely summed up at this posting on the Niche.