Geron Quits the Embryonic Stem Cell Industry
        
            By Pete Shanks
             | 11. 16. 2011
        
                    
                                    
                    
                                                                                                                                    
                                                                            
                              
    
  
  
    
  
          
  
      
    
            Geron has quit on embryonic stem cells. The company is abandoning
 its world-leading clinical trial, aimed at using stem cells to treat 
people paralyzed with spinal-cord injuries. It is laying off more than a third of its staff, and is writing off about $8 million. It has also repaid
 the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) a loan of more
 than $6 million, plus interest. Geron will continue to monitor the four
 patients currently enrolled in the phase 1 clinical trial, and says it 
is looking for another company to take it over.
  
 
  The decision to terminate the trial seems to be all business, a 
departure from past practices that seemed motivated more by hype and 
wishful thinking. Geron's stock has been plummeting (down from $6.34 to $1.60
 over the year), and new management is conducting triage. The ESC trial 
is only in phase 1, a safety trial, in which severely injured patients 
receive low doses of treatments that are frankly unlikely to do much 
good; the point is to ensure that they do no harm. Results from that...
 
       
 
  
 
    
    
  
   
                        
                                                                                
                 
                                                    
                            
                                  
    
  
  
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