alot different, in that geron "owns" the telomerase/telomerase inhibitor field, whereas they have licensed it to dndn (although dndn's current vaccine, provenge has nothing to do with telomerase)
Heres the basic jist..geron's first claim to fame was joint discovery of embryonic stem cells, that can form any cell type...that was the first "PR", its not hype, but its early..at least 4-5 years before implementation...now, due to politics/funding that research slowed, badly.
Okarma says they want human trials in 2 years on spinal cord regeneration..hes startign to fight back i think.
ok..the NOW STUFF.. Some years back, Geron & thru its collaborators (At many of the worlds top places) discovered telomerase..the only universally mentioned/researched POSSIBLE holy grail to cancer. (sloan kettering among them)
When the stem cell "politics insanity" started, er in jan 01..they decided to refocus on the telomerase platform, which theyve were working on for many years anyway.
Theyve got many angles on using it...their prostate vaccine that caused the run is not the home run most likely, although it could be one of many...their grn 163 is a telomerase inhibitor, (not in trials yet) it binds to the telomerase region of cancer cells, tightly, SPECIFICALLY, and most cancer cell types exhibit telomerase which regulates OR ALLOWS unlimited cell division. AGAIN> they are working thru preclinicals methodically, to enable the highest chance of trial sucess..trust me on that, as i said i have friends in the field (not at geron) I expect that trial to start by late spring.
Do i think they will be able to cure all cancers..no ...but i think they have a real shot at curing some, and making others livable.
None of this even begins to consider the stem cell stuff,
geron has derived beating heart cells, fully functional, theyve grown heart tissue, theve cured spinal damage in rats, they can make bone..but this work is delayed partly to politics...true rats arent people...but
A third avenue is agriculture/animals..theyve got lotsa deals with cloning superior livestock, poultry, horses, and for the exotic ..spider silk from goats milk....army working on that for stonger lighter gear for troops...years away...but
Gerons worst mistake..they had a secondary ready to go in sring 00 and they pulled it waiting for better market..stupid.the 150 million or so they would got then, well(it was 35-45 then)
Who here wants to comfort the parents of the soldiers below?
4005 brave American soldiers killed..sent to their death by a cowardly president called bush and the opposition that enabled it.
AI
