TRENTON – Both houses of the legislature today approved a measure to invest nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in long-term funding for stem cell research, a move hailed by advocates as an investment in hope. The $450 million initiative, sponsored by Senate President Richard J. Codey and Senator Barbara Buono, caps off a critical investment drive by the State of New Jersey, which in December approved a $270 million initiative to fund a world-class stem cell institute and several other biomedical research facilities.
“New Jersey will now be a part of the front line in the search for cures to some of our most obstinate afflictions,” said Sen. Codey (D-Essex). “The potential yield on this investment – in terms of lives saved, hope restored, and economies revitalized – is unlimited. With the support of our residents in November, this public investment will be nearly unparalleled in the United States.”