On November 3, not only Congress and governors were elected in the United States. Citizens also voted on ballot measures in their states. The issues ranged from abortion to minimum wage, but here I will mention the so-called Proposition 38, supported by California voters. The initiative allows the state to issue $8.4 billion in bonds for medical immunology and immunotherapy research.
Behind the proposal is the billionaire Gary K. Michelson, an orthopedic surgeon who developed treatments for spinal diseases. He became rich by selling his patents to Medtronic. Five years ago, he founded the California Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy (CIII), with the goal of "leading global research on the human immune system and translating discoveries into vaccines and immunotherapies that prevent and cure human disease." The institute is still in its establishment phase, based in UCLA's research park under construction.
Proposition 38 would commit half of the bond proceeds to a research center specializing in immunology and immunotherapy. The California Department of Public Health will pick it up, but everyone understands we're talking about CIII.
This is how Michelson himself formulates the problem:
"When you look at human suffering and all the chronic diseases that affect and kill people, they have one thing in common: it is our immune system that mediates the development of each of these diseases. Instead of what I call 'reductionist research,' which goes deep into the core of a specific problem but has no application beyond that, we need a science that looks for answers on a large scale that will do what CIII will do to solve many problems."
As usual, the initiative had opponents, and it was adopted by a small margin. I will not go into my arguments for/against the financing plan; The scientific side is more amazing: this is a big bet on immunotherapy.