Here's a longer post on Geron:
The latest issue of The New Yorker (9/30) has a major piece on
aging which devotes substantial space to the relatively new
biotech field of telomere/telomerase research.
Mentioned favorably in the article is Geron Corporation
(Nasdaq: GERN), the only pure stock-play in this field. Geron has
several key patents in telomere biology and has applied for over
50 other patents. And according to a J.P. Morgan report on the
company, "Geron has an intellectual property stranglehold on
telomerase detection." Morgan rates the stock a "Buy."
Telomere/telomerase research has the potential to greatly
extend human life expectancy. However, as The New Yorker piece
points out, its initial application is likely to be in cancer
diagnostics and therapeutics. Here's a brief excerpt from The New
Yorker:
"Standard cancer drugs...have the problem of being unable to
distinguish between healthy cells and cancerous cells...But if
Geron develops -as it hopes to do- a pill that turns off
telomerase it should sidestep that problem. With a few, minor
exceptions, tumor cells are the only cells in the body that
produce telomerase, and therefore the therapy should be able to
zero in, like a guided missile, on cancer cells, wherever they
might be..."
Geron's IPO went off on 7/31/96, at $8 per share. The
underwriters, J.P. Morgan, Salomon Brothers and Montgomery
Securities, focused on selling the IPO to institutions. And, so
far, the stock has been pretty much ignored by individual
investors. Its 9/27/96 closing price was 6.875.
In my view, with a market cap of about $70 million, the stock
is way undervalued given the company's lock on telomerase
patents. Virtually all the big names in telomere/telomerase
research work for or are affiliated with Geron, including those
mentioned in The New Yorker (Judith Campisi, Carol Greider,
Calvin Harley, Jerry Shay), as is also DNA co-discoverer James
Watson.
Geron recently announced its second licensing agreement with a
major Japanese pharmaceutical company and is working on
partnering agreements involving the U.S. and European markets.
The stock should jump once such agreements are reached. The
company's early investors included such high-profile venture
capitalists as Kleiner Perkins, Domain Partners and Venrock.
For more info on telomere/telomerase research and Geron, check
out The New Yorker piece and call the company at 415-473-7700 for
a prospectus and investor packet (ask for the J.P. Morgan
report). I also recommend a new book by Michael Fossel,
"Reversing Human Aging." |
