Geron Corporation

Geron Corporation

Type	Public
Traded as	NASDAQ: GERN
Industry	Biotechnology
Founded	1990
Headquarters	Menlo Park, CA
Key people	John Scarlett: President and CEO; David L. Greenwood: CFO; Michael D. West: founder
Products	Cancer drugs (currently in human trials)
Revenue	$36.371 Million USD (2015)
Net income	$46,000 USD (2015)
Number of employees	17
Website	www.geron.com

Geron Corporation is a biotechnology company located in Menlo Park, California that specializes in developing and commercialization of therapeutic products for cancer that inhibit telomerase.

Geron, based in Menlo Park, California, was founded by gerontologist Michael D. West, now CEO of BioTime, who secured initial venture capital investment in the company from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Venrock. The company was incorporated in 1990 and began doing business in 1992. John A. Scarlett was appointed CEO in 2011.

The company's Scientific and Clinical Advisory Board has included Nobel laureates James Watson, Gunter Blobel, and Carol Greider, as well as Leonard Hayflick, known for discovering that human cells divide for a limited number of times in vitro (called the Hayflick limit).

Geron Corporation has sponsored human clinical trials of several anti-cancer products.

In 2014 Geron exclusively licensed imetelstat to Janssen Biotech.

In addition to testing drug candidates that exploit cancer cell's dependence on telomerase, Geron is researching the possible applications of activating the enzyme in normal cells to delay cellular senescence. The company is in the early stages of developing a telomerase based treatment for HIV called TAT0002, which is the saponin cycloastragenol in Chinese herb Astragalus propinquus. Geron has granted a license to Telomerase Activation Sciences to sell TA-65, the telomerase activator agent also derived from astragalus. In October 2010 Intertek/AAC Labs, an ISO 17025 internationally recognized lab, found the largest component of TA-65 to be Cycloastragenol.