Full Press Release Details
Corporation Announces Closing of Its Public Offering of Common Stock
MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--December 10, 2010--Geron
Corporation (Nasdaq: GERN) announced today the closing of its previously
announced public offering of 17,391,305 shares of its common stock, as
well as 2,608,695 additional shares of its common stock pursuant to the
full exercise of the over-allotment option granted to the underwriters.
The public offering price was $5.00 per share and the total net proceeds
to Geron from the public offering are approximately $93.5 million, after
deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering
Geron intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for research and
development, including clinical trials for its product candidates,
clinical development of product candidates it has in-licensed, and other
general corporate purposes.
"We are advancing our telomerase inhibitor product candidate through
multiple Phase 2 clinical trials, including larger randomized trials in
breast and lung cancer, and we intend to initiate a randomized Phase 2
trial with comparator arms of our in-licensed compound, GRN1005, in
brain metastases in 2011. In addition, our hESC cell therapy for spinal
cord injury has now entered clinical trials," said David L. Greenwood,
Geron's executive vice president and chief financial officer. "Our
balance sheet, strengthened by this financing, is primarily dedicated to
funding our clinical trials to treat patients."
J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Lazard Capital Markets LLC acted as the
joint book-running managers of the offering. Rodman & Renshaw, LLC, Roth
Capital Partners, LLC and WBB Securities, LLC were co-managers of the
This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the
solicitation of an offer to buy any of these securities, nor will there
be any sale of these securities in any state or other jurisdiction in
which such offer, solicitation or sale is not permitted.
A shelf registration statement together with an accompanying base
prospectus on Form S-3 relating to the shares was filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and is effective. A preliminary
prospectus supplement, a final prospectus supplement and accompanying
base prospectus relating to the offering have been filed with the SEC
and are available on the SEC's web site at www.sec.gov.
Geron is developing first-in-class biopharmaceuticals for the treatment
of cancer and chronic degenerative diseases. The company is advancing
anti-cancer therapies through multiple Phase 2 clinical trials in
different cancers by targeting the enzyme telomerase and with compounds
designed to penetrate the blood-brain barrier (BBB). The company is
developing cell therapy products from differentiated human embryonic
stem cells for multiple indications, including central nervous system
(CNS) disorders, heart failure, diabetes and osteoarthritis, and has
initiated a Phase 1 clinical trial in spinal cord injury. For more
information, visit www.geron.com.
Investors are cautioned that statements in this press release regarding
the use of net proceeds and the future clinical development plans for
GRN1005 constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and
uncertainties. Geron will continue to need significant additional
capital to fund its operations and may be unable to raise capital when
needed, which would force Geron to delay, reduce or eliminate its
product candidate development programs or commercialization efforts. Actual
results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these
forward-looking statements. Additional information on potential factors
that could affect our results and other risks and uncertainties are
detailed in Geron's prospectus supplement related to the public offering
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 7, 2010,
and from time to time in Geron's periodic reports, including its Annual
Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009 and its
quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2010,
each available on the SEC's web site at www.sec.gov.
Anna Krassowska, Ph.D., 650-473-7765