Geron Stock Finishes Day up 36 Percent

Geron stock closed at $7.09 today, up 36 percent with the biggest one-day gain in five years, according to Bloomberg.com.

Bloomberg said,

"The FDA’s action may help pave the way for other companies to get permission to start their own trials, said Christopher Thomas Scott, director of Stanford University’s Stem Cells in Society program.

"'Geron is a path-breaking company in getting the first stem-cell trial,'Scott said in a telephone interview yesterday. 'The message is that FDA now feels comfortable with the measure of risk the first trial will contain for the first few patients.'

Bloomberg continued,

"Two other U.S. companies, Advanced Cell Technology Inc. of Los Angeles, and closely held Novocell Inc., based in San Diego, are using embryonic stem cells to develop therapies and are working to begin clinical trials.

"Less than one biotechnology drug out of three that enter clinical trials is approved, said Joseph DiMasi, an economist with the Tufts University Center for the Study of Drug Development in Boston. That risk of failure also applies to Geron, which has spent $45 million preparing an FDA submission on the stem-cell treatment."