A little scientific, GERN and intellectual property perspective I culled for y'all from this mornings BioCentury. Basically, GERN's discoveries are a long way from any commercial development. There are some serious patent issues due to prior art and patents. The company is trying to downplay the research and not hype the stock. If you don't subscribe to BioCentury and you are interested in biotech you should. The excerpts:
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Technical challenges
Whatever happens in Congress, commercializing products
based on human ES cells is likely to take time, and a number of
technical hurdles must be overcome.
GERN is developing human and primate stem cells as tissue
transplantation and cell and gene therapy products to treat age-related
degenerative diseases. In combination with telomerase-based
immortalization approaches, GERN said the research
"positions Geron to potentially supply an unlimited number of
young cells and tissues for every organ in the body."
However, the real or commercial applications are likely to be
at least 10 years away.
Competition
In addition to lengthy timelines, and despite having exclusive
licenses to the research performed at Wisconsin and Johns
Hopkins, GERN is likely to face competition.
For example, U.S. Patent No. 5,690,926, invented by Brigid
Hogan at Vanderbilt University (Nashville, Tenn.), covers "non-murine
pluripotential cells that have the ability to be passaged in
vitro for at least 20 passages and which differentiate in culture
into a variety of tissues . . . particular claims are drawn to human
pluripotential cells."
Those claims at first glance appear to overlap at least the
Hopkins EG research, if not the Wisconsin ES studies.
In addition, another U.S. Patent (No. 5,639,618) covers a
method of taking pluripotent embryonic stem cells and expressing
in them a lineage-specific gene that
causes them to differentiate into a particular
cell type and then isolating those differentiated
cells. The methodology could
present a potentially important technol-ogy
for use in developing human ES cells
for transplantation purposes.
Those patents are licensed to Plurion
Inc. (Atlanta, Ga.). President and CEO
Mark Germain said the company is not yet
ready to discuss its activities in the human
stem cell area nor its plans with respect to
its intellectual property and other compa-nies
in the field.
David Greenwood, GERN CFO and
vice president of corporate development,
said GERN has not reviewed the Hogan
technology and has not spoken to Plurion.
However, he acknowledged that other
groups both in the U.S. and internationally
probably are pursuing human ES cell tech-nology.
Managing expectations
After experiencing hugely overblown
reactions to its earlier scientific announce-ments,
GERN this time disseminated an
extensive kit to media (including video
and still graphics) explaining the discov-ery
and attempting to put it in commercial
and ethical perspective.
"I don't know if that's a strategy as
much as lessons learned," Greenwood
told BioCentury.
In GERN's previous run-up, the find-ing
that telomerase expression could ex-tend
the ability of cells to divide in culture
led to wild speculation in the media, fueled
by enthusiastic pronouncements by the
company's collaborating investigators (see
BioCentury, Jan. 19).
This time, in its prepared statement,
the company noted that "while the bio-medical
and therapeutic promise of hES
cells is vast, it should be emphasized again
that the additional research and develop-ment
required to recognize this potential
is significant."
Greenwood said the media kit helped
manage the volume of inquiries, but more
importantly let the company translate and
articulate the underlying science for those
unable or unwilling to read the Science
paper themselves.
"They really look for you to explain
what has happened, why it's important and
what you intend to do with it," he said.
Judging by the market reaction to its
latest news (see A11), stemming any over-reaction
may be next to impossible now
that GERN has been identified as a trading
play.
"It seems like in each instance maybe
it's been too much of a success," Green-wood
said. "Frankly, Geron as a company
has no interest in hyperventilating what
the actual achievement is."
BioCentury, THE BERNSTEIN REPORT ON BIOBUSINESS NOVEMBER 9, 1998 PAGE A4 OF 14
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