Geron Corp (GERN)

[esammee]

Hi, Half. Good to see you over here, even if ...

This is what caught my attention the first time I heard the CC:

Preliminary reports on "several" cohorts forthcoming at ASH and EORTC.

Thinking about adding another site.

Currently submission to RAC already made re company GRNVAC1 Ph II IND, then assuming RAC approval, to The Agency. We will know when 'enrollment is announced.' Confirms the notion that they won't announce the IND filing, but the approval.

Discussion of the percentage of telomerase inhibition necessary for demonstrable effects and that it doesn't seem to differ across different types of cancer. Even at relatively low test-safety-in-humans doses, the inhibition seems to be pretty darn good. Discussion of targeting cancer stem cells. Discussion of progress on islet cells and Edmonton Protocol.

Oh, and of course the idea that there is a groundswell of hESC support building in Europe is welcome news - esp. considering the obstructionist tendencies of the theocratic Catholic countries.
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On reflection, it bothers me a bit that the hESCs for diabetes seem to need replenishment, just like the cadaveric islets; considering the multiple sources of the cadaveric islets, etc., that seems counter intuitive to me. Someone somewhere needs to figure out what's killing them off, and I have no doubt that that is one of the things they're looking at, but ... When the statement that X is the reason is 100% true, it will be the real answer.

Also, going with the notion that what they'll announce next is whatever they're NOT talking about, I notice no mention of Roche nor of the oncolytic virus. They did tell us previously that Roche was due to market the bladder cancer diagnostic in Europe in 2006. And Okarma has been publicly nudging CEGE to move the oncolytic virus along - something almost completely foreign to his nature. Perhaps taking DNDN's license back for failure to perform gave CEGE notice and GERN "courage." There have been signs that CEGE is going to live up to the progress steps in its license agreement and at least work on 5757; I don't know how current CEGE's webpage is, but their chart shows 5757 about half way through preclinical. I also notice they're not saying much about the heart hESCs. The heart cells and diabetes cells, as you recall, are vying for next in que. A year is a short period in terms of R&D, but Merck being big and experienced, we might hear something from them as well.

On to theories that get my attention. It's interesting they are looking at other measures besides bulk tumor, i.e., in the realm of the cancer stem cells. It brings up a brain itch about the possibility of resorption which appeals to me far more than chemo, radiation or surgery. hESC and telomerase appeal to me because they're management in concert with natural processes - that to me in the end is what will work. I am thrilled with Merck's HPV vaccine - it's 100% for two of the HPV strains. That's how you know when it's "right."

I continue to alternate between hopeful and resigned of the vaccine and inhibitor programs. More hopeful when they show efficacy as stand alone therapies; more resigned when they're shown effective in combination. In theory anyhow, abnormal upregulation of telomerase kick-starting cancers makes the most sense of anything I've run across. And findings like Merck's linking viruses to cancer really make sense. If a virus is somehow finding a weak spot in which to "make a nest" and changing the chemistry of that area to one conducive for its reproduction, one in which telomerase would be upregulated as in a human pregnancy,(including the immune privilege noted at the site of an implanting blastocyst in a human pregnancy), that would confirm one of the theories I've seen. It seems to me that the immune system is a HUGE player and that chemo, radiation and surgery do incredible damage to the one system that can really help you out. Telomerase upregulation and immune privilege would explain why the immune system doesn't work in some cases as well.
Just as many others, I'm looking for the 100%, but will settle for anything that WORKS in any cases, the less toxic the better.

Don't you wish we had 100% crystal balls.