Geron ends embryonic stem cell research
A Cell Expansion System used to grow cells on display at the 2010 World Stem Cell Summit in Detroit, Mich., on Oct. 4, 2010.
Geron Corp., the first company to conduct a clinical trial of a therapy that uses human embryonic stem cells, has announced it is ending the trial and getting out of stem cell research completely.
In a conference call with analysts today, Geron officials said they made the decision for financial reasons. The company is unprofitable, and its executives said they had decided to focus on developing their experimental cancer therapies, which they are closer to bringing to market, the New York Times reported.
“These were business decisions we took on behalf of our shareholders,” Geron Chief Executive Officer John Scarlett said, Reuters reported. “We still think the (stem cell) field has tremendous promise.”
By exiting the stem-cell business, Geron expects to have enough money to complete its current cancer research without having to raise additional capital, MarketWatch reported.
“This is a shock to the (stem cell research industry) system … because the unequivocal leader in the embryonic stem cell space is now getting out of the stem cell space," WBB Securities analyst Steve Brozak told Reuters.
According to the New York Times:
The company, based in Menlo Park, Calif., helped pay for the initial derivation of human embryonic stem cells at the University of Wisconsin in the late 1990s, giving it fundamental patent rights in the field. Then, in 2010, after a long struggle to win permission from the Food and Drug Administration, it started the first clinical trial of a therapy derived from embryonic stem cells, in spinal cord patients.
Company officials said Geron’s stem-cell therapy for people with spinal-cord injuries had been well-tolerated in the clinical trial, MarketWatch reported. Geron hopes to sell or license the stem cell program to another company, the Times reported.
Embryonic stem cells come from human embryos – often those fertilized invitro in fertility clinics – and using them in research is controversial since embryos are destroyed in the process, MarketWatch reported.
Every day, reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you. We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
Make a gift today, and you’ll help us unlock a matching gift of $67,000!