Geron again cries wolf –and the stock shoots up

Biotech company Geron saw its shares soar after announcing January 22 2009 that the FDA had approved testing of its GRNOPC1 in acute spinal cord injury patients.  According to CEO Thomas Okarma, “If safe and effective, the therapy would provide a viable treatment option for thousands of patients who suffer severe spinal cord injuries each year.”  Don Margolis, who founded The Repair Stem Cell institute to benefit patients, responded: "Many will benefit from this P.R. event, but the patients and the taxpayers will lose mightily!"

Geron has a lengthy track record of such stock manipulation, having made ten such announcements of upcoming trials over the past five years – none of which has ever happened. Reporters who have flooded the U.S. with stories about this ‘first’ embryonic stem cell clinical trial would serve the public (and the truth) better by doing some background research on this boy-who-cried-wolf company.  A half- hour’s research would enlighten them that the true purpose of the announcement was to pump up the stock’s price over 35% and at the same time capitalize on our new president's recent promise to lift our former president's restriction on embryonic stem cell research, thus providing government funds courtesy of every citizen’s taxes.

Scientists and academic institutions must be salivating at the thought of all that money soon to flow into their coffers. Billions have been and will be spent on embryonic stem cell research with little chance of patients ever benefitting.  

But Mr. Margolis believes the embryonic lobby will never allow any clinical trial to be held because they know that immune-rejection by the patient is possible and that, based on animal research, brain tumors may be in the cards. As researcher Dr. John A. Kessler, the chairman of neurology and director of the stem cell institute at Northwestern University (and an embryonic enthusuast) said  â€œâ€œIt would be a disaster, a nightmare, if we ran into these kinds of problems in this very first trial."  

Mr. Margolis added, “That is why we at the Repair Stem Cell Institute expect the embryonic lobby to pull its weight and stop this potential catastrophe-in-the making.   For a listed company to cynically manipulate stock prices and raise the hopes of sufferers as Geron does regularly, might be considered a bit unethical.”

Mr. Margolis concluded "The public, and spinal injury patients in particular, deserve to know the facts and to be aware that right now patients are being helped, and will be long after Geron’s trial is either yanked or fails.”  He advises patients to go to the public service website at  www.RepairStemCells.org to find out which of the world’s leading stem cell researchers can help. All you need to do is email them with your age, date of injury, description on injury and the latest diagnosis. They will reply and let you know if you are a candidate. Then you may ask all the questions you wish. Be advised, unless you are willing to go through some serious rehabilitation work, do not bother with stem cells, any stem cells. For more information on rehab, visit  www.walkthelinetoscirecovery.com and see what is involved."