Empresas do Estado cortam mais de 5 mil milhões à dívida

[Ulisses Pereira]

Já agora deixo aqui a troca de posts entre dois analistas do Realmoney a este respeito.

"Hal Uy

GERN
3/18/03 01:17 PM ET

Geron Corporation (GERN:Nasdaq) is up sharply after announcing publishing a research paper in Cancer Gene Therapy. The vaccine is still in phase 1 clinical trials. I am trying to get a copy of the article and compare it to the January 9th article in Oncogene. I think this is way overdone and I am shorting it aggressively here.
Short GERN



Adam Feuerstein

Geron (Back to business)
3/18/03 01:19 PM ET

A half-dozen readers have pinged me today re: Geron (GERN-Nasdaq) and the news out today about its experimental cancer vaccine.

I first reported on GERN's telomerase research five years ago. It was a great "story" then, and it's a great "story" now. But how much has really changed? Bottom line: This vaccine is way, way early.

I can't really speak in detail about today's news, I'm still waiting to hear back from some experts. But generally speaking, GERN is a company that conducts very interesting research (stem cells, etc.) but has yet to really move projects significantly down the development pipeline.

none

Hal Uy

GERN
3/18/03 01:43 PM ET

Great point Adam on the Geron Corporation (GERN:Nasdaq). This vaccine is years and years away. GERN publishes papers quite frequently and this does not seem to be a paper in a top tier publication. I continue to short GERN aggressively.
Short GERN"

(in www.realmoney.com)

[Visitante]

na empresas cotadas nos states, como o negócio não é lucrativo entra-se do jogo do "talvez", quem comandará estas tropas, para originar estas maluqueiras $$$, quem tem interesse nestas especulações? Casino ao rubro lol

[Ulisses Pereira]

A Geron (GERN) está a subir 170% (!) depois da divulgação de um relatório sobre uma vacina que poderá ser usada na luta contra o cancro.

Ainda não há comentários de peritos na matéria sobre este anúncio, mas fica aqui a notícia que a Geron fez sair hoje:

Geron Corporation (GERN, Trade) announced today the publication of research results that support the utility of telomerase for widespread applications in cancer immunotherapy.

The research, published in the March 2003 issue of Cancer Gene Therapy, shows that different types of cancer cells, including cancer cells without any known tumor-associated antigens, can be killed by telomerase-based immunotherapy. Geron scientists studied melanoma and colon cancer cell lines that are known to express the tumor-associated antigens, MART-1 and CEA-1, respectively, and an osteosarcoma line lacking any known tumor antigen. Telomerase was introduced into human dendritic cells by gene transfer enabling the dendritic cells to generate telomerase specific cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTLs) that killed all three tumor cell lines. These findings show that telomerase vaccination can be used in all cancer patients, even those with tumors that do not express any known tumor-associated antigens.

Telomerase is activated in all human cancer types, including breast, lung, colon, prostate, pancreatic and hematologic tumors. Telomerase is therefore an attractive candidate for use as a universal therapeutic cancer vaccine. A Phase 1 study of Geron's ex-vivo telomerase vaccine is currently underway in patients with metastatic prostate cancer at Duke University Medical Center.

Study Results

In the study, Geron scientists were able to show that dendritic cells (the most potent antigen presenting cells in the body) obtained from the peripheral blood of normal healthy volunteers can be modified in vitro with purified human telomerase DNA or with an adenoviral vector containing human telomerase DNA. The resulting telomerase-modified dendritic cells then present antigenic fragments of the telomerase protein to T-lymphocytes, thereby enabling them to recognize and kill telomerase-positive cancer cells. This study shows that dendritic cells genetically modified with the telomerase gene can be used to generate an immune response against cancer cells, and extends previous work that showed similar results using telomerase RNA (Nature Medicine 2000;6:1011-1017) or telomerase peptides (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2000; 25:4796-4801) as antigens. These results support the potential use of telomerase as a universal cancer vaccine administered directly to cancer patients in order to induce a strong and specific anti-telomerase immune response in which the patients own lymphocytes recognize and kill telomerase-expressing cancer cells.

"The universal expression of telomerase in cancer cells forms the rationale for our ongoing programs in telomerase inhibition (GRN163), telomerase oncolytic viruses (partnered with Genetic Therapy, Inc./ Novartis), and telomerase immunotherapy, currently in Phase 1 clinical trials at Duke," said David B. Karpf, Geron's executive medical director of oncology. "This study provides additional support for the use of telomerase in cancer vaccine trials, and suggests that telomerase-based immunotherapy may be useful for all cancer patients regardless of the tumor antigen status of their cancer cells."

Physicians or patients who would like more information on the Duke telomerase vaccine trial may contact the clinical trials coordinator at 919/668-3457.

Geron is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapeutic and diagnostic products for applications in oncology and regenerative medicine, and research tools for drug discovery. Geron's product development programs are based upon three patented core technologies: telomerase, human embryonic stem cells, and nuclear transfer.

This news release may contain forward-looking statements made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that such forward-looking statements in this press release regarding future applications of Geron Corporation's technology constitute statements involving risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, risks inherent in the development and commercialization of potential products, need for additional capital, regulatory approvals and clearances, and the maintenance of our intellectual property rights. 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 from time to time in Geron's periodic reports, including the annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2002.