Cysts Developed with Geron Spinal Cord Injury Drug

Well this is horrible news.

“Aug 27 (Reuters) – Stem cell research company Geron Corp (GERN) said animals injected with its experimental cell therapy for subacute spinal cord injury developed microscopic cysts in the injury site.  However, a manufactured lot of the drug GRNOPC1 that was assessed using new markers and assays showed no cysts in a recently concluded study in rats, the company said in a statement.”

Geron’s IND application, and the trial, was placed on hold last week, as this data was presented to the FDA for further discussion.

I’m not a medical doctor, researcher, or part of the FDA, but I will be surprised if this stem cell trial is allowed to continue.  I was really hoping this trial would show some promising results, but it looks as if it will end before it even gets started.

Next.