Shortly after the announcement that stem-cell pioneer (and promoter) Advanced Cell Technology was going broke, a venture capital firm has announced that it is looking for investors to pour $225 million dollars into the technology. Here’s the story in the San Francisco Business Times. The firm, Proteus Ventures, is no stranger to stem cell endeavors, including making investments in Saudi Arabia. (See Gulf states embrace stem cell technologies at home and abroad .)

Big pharma has also backed stem cell research, with the latest announcement of a five-year $25 million deal between GSK and Harvard. For the most part, drug companies have been interested in using embryonic stem cells for drug screening (See New tools for drug screening), but Pfizer has made a tiny investment in a cell-therapy startup as well.

And finally, adult-stem cell company Osiris has raised some money for future stem-cell products by selling its current one. The product, Osteocel, is currently sold not as a drug but as a surgical product, which does not have to meet the FDA requirements for an approved drug or cell therapy. According to the Baltimore Sun, Osiris has sold its stem-cell product Osteocel for $137 million and plans to use the money to finance development of biologic products as well as mesenchymal stem cells. These are in clinical trials for heart failure and graft versus heart disease (See Questioning the self cell and Stem cells for the heart, a new wave of clinical trials ).