Geron Corp. Said Animals Treated With GRNOPC1 Developed Spinal Cysts (GERN)

8/27/2009 - Geron Corp. (NASDAQ:GERN) said Thursday that some animals treated with its embryonic stem cell product have developed microscopic spinal cysts. The company is testing GRNOPC1 for spinal cord injury and has been testing it on rats and mice in hopes to begin human clinical trials soon. The FDA is delaying the program due to the new data from the animal studies. Neither the company nor the FDA said how long the review will take. The company said, "A very low frequency of injected animals developed microscopic cysts in the regenerating injury site," and added that the cysts were harmless, were not spreading, and were not connected to increased risk of death or health problems. Geron said as many as half of all spinal cord injury patients develop much larger cysts.

Write to Chip Brian at cbrian@tradethetrend.com

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