Replies to post #536 on Geron Corp (GERN)

[esammee]

I think your memory is just fine, although I'm not sure there are any "night and day" differences, but certainly notable improvements. It depends, perhaps, on the wording of the abstracts and the timeframes involved, and of course they're still in dishes and animals.

One of the notions to watch is just exactly what they're measuring. How do they measure, what do they measure, over what time period, and ultimately, does it produce A CURE - one without recurrence. The "traditional" measures seem to look in a different direction than is now cropping up. For instance, bulk tumor nearterm may not be as important as knocking off the cancer stem cells - alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. The csc's are nearer the beginning and the tumors nearer the end. Perhaps the measures to date have looked at the wrong end of the spectrum. There's a big gap between "known carcinogens" and fatal disease -- you know, "time to progression" and extension of "median survival," type stuff. And that's before you get to the "quality of life issues." Does that extra 4 months mean 4 months centered on treatments and trips to the doctor/hospital, etc. Of course, the value of that 4 months is entirely subjective. The will to survive is beyond powerful.

Until a treatment is 100% effective, it's all just theories really, but there are trends to notice and *"satellites" of thought looking for a docking station.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the t.vaccine and t.inhibitor are effective and will prove to be, it's a question of how much and how lasting, alone or in combination. My personal ideal is no chemo at all. (blah blah blah late term cases that need the really quick fix of slash, poison and burn NOW nothwithstanding) It seems to me that once cancer is treatable, in a nontoxic fashion, there'll be fewer and fewer and fewer late term cases because people who see the word cancer as synonymous with suffering and death as well as bankruptcy will head to their physicians a whole lot sooner.

*one of my satellites is that the combo studies are perhaps primarily a)for comparison with a "known," and b) for clinical trial/product approval purposes.