California wants to rescue medical research. Voters must decide if it's worth $8.4 billion

California is seeking to bolster medical research funding as voters decide on a proposed $8.4 billion research bond. The initiative is supported by patients such as Laurie Adami, who says she survived late-stage follicular non-Hodgkin lymphoma after receiving CAR-T therapy, an immunotherapy that reprograms a patient’s white blood cells to target cancer. Diagnosed in 2006 at age 46, Adami describes being told by 2018 that she had more than eight pounds of tumors and less than a month to live; she became cancer-free within 30 days of CAR-T. Backers say approval in the November election would provide stable state funding for immunotherapies and research into conditions including cancer, Alzheimer’s and heart disease. Critics argue the bond would lock the state into decades of debt while federal research support has been reduced, including at least $2.3 billion in frozen or cut NIH grants. The Bay Area stakes include more than $55 million in canceled federal grants, according to the article.