BioTime Picks Up Geron’s Stem Cell Assets
Newly formed public company will be co-owned by Geron, BioTime, and private investor.
MICHAEL FITZHUGH
The Burrill Report
Following the shutdown of what was once the biotech industry’s leading embryonic stem cell therapeutics program, BioTime and former Geron CEO Tom Okarma are spearheading a revival of programs to develop Geron’s stem cell assets.
Geron shelved its pioneering stem cell therapeutics programs to focus on cancer drugs in November 2011 as a faster path to revenues. That's been a bumpy course for the company with imetelstat, its first-in-class telomerase inhibitor, yielding poor results against breast cancer but positive results in treating essential thrombocythemia, a chronic blood disorder.
In a complex agreement between a subsidiary of BioTime, Geron, and a private investor, Geron will transfer to BioTime Acquisition Corp. its intellectual property, cell lines, and other assets related to its discontinued human embryonic stem cell programs, including the early-stage clinical trial in patients with acute spinal cord injury, as well as its autologous cellular immunotherapy program.
Following a series of share and warrant transactions, the parties anticipate that Geron stockholders will own approximately 21 percent of BioTime Acquisition Corp., BioTime will own approximately 72 percent, and a private investor will own about 7 percent after an additional $5 million investment in the acquisition entity.
BioTime Acquisition Corp. will pay royalties to Geron on the sale of commercialized products that rely on patents acquired by Geron.
The closing of the transaction is subject to certain approvals by BioTime's shareholders, the completion of registrations with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and other negotiated but non-disclosed closing conditions. The transaction is expected to close no later than the end of September.
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