La Jolla-based Stemagen applauds broad bipartisan support, but measure falls short of veto-proof margin.

January 11, 2007

LA JOLLA, CA – Stemagen today commends the U.S. House of Representatives for overwhelmingly passing House Resolution 3, which would expand federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. While the measure failed to pass with enough votes to override an expected Presidential veto, it did enjoy broad bipartisan support.

H.R. 3 passed 253-174, which, if every member of the House votes, is still 37 votes shy of the two-thirds majority needed to override a promised Presidential veto.

Stemagen CEO Samuel H. Wood, M.D., Ph.D., applauded the bill’s passage. “Even though this bill did not have enough votes in the House to override a veto, we are encouraged that yet another vote has illustrated that this is not a Republican or Democrat issue; it’s a human issue. When this bill passes the Senate and is put on the President’s desk, it is our fervent hope he use a pen to sign it, and not a stamp to veto it.”

On July 19, 2006, after both Houses of Congress passed similar legislation, President Bush used the first veto of his presidency to reject the bill. When the House of Representatives attempted to override the veto, it fell 51 votes shy of the two-thirds majority needed. The issue then too enjoyed broad bipartisan support, with 50 House Republicans voting both in favor of the measure, and in favor of overriding the veto.

“We hope the President will, after considering the widespread public and congressional support for embryonic stem cell research, as well as recently published promising stem cell research, sign this bill following its near certain passage by the Senate, thus allowing the full potential of this extraordinary technology to be realized,” Wood said.

Stemagen is a privately funded biotechnology company in La Jolla committed to harnessing the potential of embryonic stem cells and hastening the day when they may lead to effective therapeutic treatments.

For more information, please contact:

Roman Jimenez

858-453-2305