Geron Corp

A. Company Profile

Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapeutic products for cancer. The Company's products are based on its telomerase technology. It is working to develop anti-cancer therapies based on telomerase inhibitors, telomerase therapeutic vaccines and, through its collaborators, telomerase-based oncolytic (cancer-killing) viruses.

B. Products

1. GRN163 or GRN163 L

GRN163 is an inhibitor of telomerase. GRN163L is identical in structure to GRN163 except that it has a lipid attached to one end of the molecule, which appears to improve its pharmacokinetics and should make its manufacture more efficient and less expensive. telomerase is not present in most normal cells and tissues, but that during tumor progression, telomerase is abnormally reactivated in all major cancer types. Telomerase enables cancer cells to maintain telomere length, providing them with indefinite replicative capacity. Inhibiting telomerase activity results in telomere shortening and therefore causes aging or death of the cancer cell.

2. TVAX

TVAX (Telomerase cancer vaccine) is made by an ex vivo (outside the body) process in which dendritic cells (the most efficient antigen-presenting cells in the body) are isolated from cancer patient's blood, pulsed with telomease RNA. The vaccine is then used to vaccinate patient. The vaccine induces telomerase specific cytotoxic T cell responses.