Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

Can lengthening telomeres make a good cosmetic?
I rather doubt it, but here’s a company who wants
you to think it can.

http://biz.yahoo.com/bizj/070312/1430602.html?.v=2

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Geron Corp. sells license to company for anti-aging treatments

Monday March 12, 1:36 pm ET

Geron Corp. said Monday it licensed its technology to Asia Biotech Corp. for use by a subsidiary in cosmetic and non-therapeutic treatments that, according to the subsidiary's web site, will make customers' cells "young again."

Menlo Park-based Geron (NASDAQ: GERN ) didn't give any details about the license deal. Telomerase Activation Sciences, a wholly owned subsidiary of Asia Biotech based in New York, will used Geron's technology, which affects the telomerases at the end of chromosomes, in its cosmetic treatments and dietary supplements.

On its web site, Telomease [sic] Activation says in a tiny footnote that by "young again," it means the telomeres inside its customers' cells will be elongated, as they are in young people's cells.

Telomeres play a role in cell division and get shorter with age. Geron hopes to use its technology to shut off cell replication and division in order to stop cancer, which is runaway cell division and growth.

The Food and Drug Administration has not evaluated the claims made by Telomerase Activation Sciences on its web site.
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