Geron Corporation and Roslin Form Major Cloning Venture

10 May 1999 00:00  [Source: ICB Americas]

Geron Corp., a Menlo Park, Calif.-based biopharmaceutical company, has merged with Roslin Bio-Med, the company formed from the Roslin Institute, the Scottish-based research group involved in transgenic production.

Under the terms of the agreement, Geron has purchased all outstanding shares of Roslin Bio-Med in exchange for 2.1 million shares of Geron common stock. The new company will be called Geron-Bio-Med and will become a subsidiary of Geron.

The alliance brings together three complementary technologies: human pluripotent stem cells, telomerase expression and nuclear transfer. Telomerase is an enzyme shown by Geron to convey "unlimited" replicative capacity to normal cells. Nuclear transfer is the process by which the Roslin Institute demonstrated that the nucleus of an adult cell (sheep) can be transferred to an enucleated egg to create a cloned offspring.

The new company will focus on generating genetically matched human cells and tissues with replicative capacity for use in repairing organ damage caused by generative disease. It will also focus on developing animal-derived cells, tissues and organs as replacement therapies for degenerative disease.

Roslin's position in nuclear transfer and Geron's technology position in human brain cells raises obvious questions about human cloning. However, Thomas Okarma, vice-president of R&D for Geron, says "both companies support the current ban on human reproductive cloning."

Roslin Bio-Med was formed from the Roslin Institute through an exclusive license to develop nuclear transfer technology for all animal and human-based biomedical applications, excluding human reproductive cloning. The license also excluded the production of therapeutic proteins in the milk of transgenic ruminants and rabbits and the modification of milk composition for nutraceutical use, which had been granted to PPL Therapeutics, another company involved in transgenic production.

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