Back to GetFilings.com



UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

[X]  
   ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE
SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2003
or

[  ]  
   TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE
SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the Transition Period From to ____________ to __________.

Commission File Number: 0-20859

GERON CORPORATION

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Delaware          75-2287752
(State or other jurisdiction of
               
(I.R.S. Employer
incorporation or organization)
               
Identification No.)
 

230 Constitution Drive, Menlo Park, CA 94025
(Address, including zip code, of principal executive offices)
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (650) 473-7700
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act: None
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: Common Stock $0.001 par value

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes [X] No [   ]

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. [   ]

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an accelerated filer (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes [X] No [   ]

The aggregate market value of voting stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant was approximately $191,569,155 based upon the closing price of the common stock on June 30, 2003 on The Nasdaq National Market. Shares of common stock held by each officer, director and holder of five percent or more of the outstanding Common Stock have been excluded in that such persons may be deemed to be affiliates. This determination of affiliate status is not necessarily a conclusive determination for other purposes.

As of December 31, 2003, there were 39,316,742 shares of common stock outstanding.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE:

Document
          Form 10-K
Parts
Portions of the Registrant’s definitive proxy statement for the 2004 annual meeting of stockholders to be filed pursuant to Regulation 14A within 120 days of the Registrant’s fiscal year end December 31, 2003
              
III
 

Forward-Looking Statements

This annual report on Form 10-K, including “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Item 7, contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions that, if they never materialize or prove incorrect, could cause the results of Geron Corporation (Geron) to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties referred to above include, without limitation, risks inherent in the development and commercialization of Geron’s potential products, dependence on collaborative partners, need for additional capital, need for regulatory approvals or clearances, the maintenance of Geron’s intellectual property rights and other risks that are described herein and that are otherwise described from time to time in Geron’s Securities and Exchange Commission reports including, but not limited to, the factors described in “Additional Factors That May Affect Future Results” set forth in Item 1 of this report. Geron assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.

PART I

Item 1. Business

Overview

We are a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapeutic and diagnostic products for cancer based on our telomerase technology, and cell-based therapeutics using our human embryonic stem cell technology.

Telomerase is an enzyme that is expressed in nearly all cancer cells, but not in most normal cells. We hope to kill cancer cells in which telomerase is abnormally expressed by inhibiting or targeting telomerase, and to diagnose cancer by measuring telomerase activity.

Human embryonic stem cells can develop and differentiate into all cells and tissues in the body. As such, they are a potential source for the manufacture of replacement cells and tissues for organ repair applications in chronic diseases.

We were incorporated in 1990 under the laws of Delaware. Our principal executive offices are located at 230 Constitution Drive, Menlo Park, California, 94025. Our telephone number is (650) 473-7700.

We make available free of charge on or through our Internet website our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and all amendments to those reports as soon as reasonably practicable after they are electronically filed with, or furnished to, the Securities and Exchange Commission. Our Internet website address is “www.geron.com”.

Major Technology Platforms

Telomeres and Telomerase: Their role in cellular aging and cancer

Cells are the building blocks for all tissues in the human body and cell division plays a critical role in the normal growth, maintenance and repair of human tissue. However, in the human body, most cell division is a limited process. Depending on the tissue type, cells generally divide only 60 to 100 times during the course of their normal lifespan.

We and our collaborators have shown that telomeres, located at the ends of chromosomes, are key genetic elements involved in the regulation of the cellular aging process. Our work has shown that each time a normal cell divides, telomeres shorten. Once telomeres reach a certain short length, cell division halts and the cell enters a state known as replicative senescence or aging. We and our collaborators have demonstrated that telomeres serve as a molecular “clock” for cellular aging and that the enzyme telomerase, when introduced into normal cells, is capable of restoring telomere length or resetting the

2


“clock,” thereby increasing the functional lifespan of cells without altering their biology or causing them to become cancerous. Human telomerase, a complex enzyme, is composed of a ribonucleic acid (RNA) component, known as hTR, and a protein component, known as hTERT. In 1994, we cloned the gene for hTR, and in 1997, in collaboration with Dr. Thomas Cech, we cloned the gene for hTERT.

Our work and that of others has shown that telomerase is not present in most normal cells and tissues, but that during cancer progression, telomerase is abnormally reactivated in all major cancer types. We have shown that while telomerase does not cause cancer (which is caused by mutations in cells), the continued presence of telomerase enables cancer cells to maintain telomere length, providing them with indefinite replicative capacity. We and others have shown in various tumor models that inhibiting telomerase activity results in telomere shortening and therefore causes aging or death of the cancer cell.

Although telomerase is expressed in nearly all cancer cells, it is not expressed in most normal cells. That gives telomerase the potential of being both a universal as well as a highly specific cancer target. This specificity means that drugs and biologics that attack cancer cells by targeting telomerase may leave other cells unaffected, and thus should have fewer side effects than conventional chemotherapeutic agents that attack many cancer and non-cancer cells at once.

We are working to develop anti-cancer therapies based on telomerase inhibitors, telomerase therapeutic vaccines and, through our collaborators, telomerase-based oncolytic (cancer-killing) viruses. We also intend to continue to develop and commercialize products using telomerase as a marker for cancer diagnosis, prognosis, patient monitoring and screening.

Human Embryonic Stem Cells: A potential source for the manufacturing of replacement cells and tissues

Stem cells generally are self-renewing primitive cells that can develop into functional, differentiated cells. Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), which are derived from very early stage embryos called blastocysts, are unique because:

•  they are pluripotent, that is they can develop into all cells and tissues in the body, and

•  they self-renew indefinitely in the undifferentiated state.

The ability of hESCs to divide indefinitely in the undifferentiated state without losing pluripotency is a unique characteristic that distinguishes them from all other stem cells discovered to date in humans. We have demonstrated that the extended replicative capacity of hESCs is due to telomerase expression. Other stem cells such as blood or gut stem cells express telomerase at very low levels or only periodically; they therefore age, limiting their use in research or therapeutic applications. Exceedingly rare subpopulations of adult mesenchymal stem cells have been described in a few laboratories that also appear to differentiate into multiple cell lineages. To date, these cells have proven extremely difficult to culture and are not suitable for large-scale production. In contrast, hESCs can be expanded in culture indefinitely and hence can be banked for scaled product manufacture.

We intend to use human embryonic stem cell technology to:

•  enable the development of transplantation therapies by providing standard starting material for the manufacture of cells and tissues;

•  facilitate pharmaceutical research and development practices by providing cells for disease models and screening, and for assigning function to newly discovered genes; and

•  accelerate research in human developmental biology by identifying the genes that control human growth and development.

Commercial Opportunities for Our Major Technology Platforms

Oncology

Cancer is a group of diseases characterized by the uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells. The American Cancer Society estimates that approximately 1.4 million new cancer cases are expected to be diagnosed in the year 2004. Overall annual costs associated with cancer in 2003 were $189.5 billion in

3


the United States alone. Because telomerase is detectable in more than 30 human cancer types and in the great majority of cancer samples studied, we believe that telomerase-based drugs could overcome the limitations of current cancer therapies and potentially be broadly applicable and highly specific drug treatments for cancer.

We are developing, alone or with collaborators, anti-cancer therapies based on telomerase inhibitors, telomerase therapeutic vaccines and telomerase-based oncolytic (cancer-killing) viruses, and diagnostics based on telomerase detection. We believe telomerase is an ideal target for cancer therapeutics and diagnostics because it appears to be both universal — it is expressed in all major types of cancers studied to date — and specific — it is not expressed in most normal cells. We believe that we have the dominant patent position in the field of telomerase. Whether it is achieved by us or by our collaborators and licensees, we believe that progress in the development of any of these telomerase-based cancer therapeutics will further validate the importance of telomerase as a cancer target and therefore benefit all of our telomerase cancer programs.

Telomerase Inhibition. Telomerase activation is necessary for cancer cells to replicate indefinitely and thereby enable tumor growth and metastasis. One of our strategies for the development of anti-cancer therapies is to inhibit telomerase activity in cancer cells. Inhibiting telomerase activity should result in telomere shortening and therefore cause the aging and death of cancer cells. Recent data show that telomerase can protect tumor cells from genomic instability and cell death, suggesting that inhibiting telomerase can cause a more rapid suppression of tumor growth than predicted by telomere loss alone. Because telomerase is expressed at very low levels, if at all, in most normal cells, the telomerase inhibition therapies described below are not expected to be cytotoxic to normal cells.

We have designed and synthesized a special class of short-chain nucleic acid molecules, known as oligonucleotides, that target the template region, or active site, of telomerase. These oligonucleotides, called GRN163 and GRN163L, have demonstrated highly potent telomerase inhibitory activity at very low concentrations in biochemical assays, various cellular systems, and animal studies. We are now engaged in additional animal toxicology and efficacy studies of these drugs that, if successful, should enable us to file an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to begin human clinical trials.

Our compounds GRN163 and GRN163L are direct enzyme inhibitors, not antisense compounds. They are much smaller (lower molecular weight) than typical antisense compounds or other oligonucleotide drug candidates, and we expect them to be administered either locally or systemically. They do not inhibit other critical nucleic acid-modifying enzymes and do not appear to be toxic to normal cells at concentrations needed to inhibit telomerase in tumor cells. Both compounds use a special thiophosphoramidate chemical backbone, for which we acquired controlling patents in March 2002 from Lynx Therapeutics.

We and our collaborators have so far tested GRN163 in vitro on 13 different cancer cells and demonstrated significant inhibition of telomerase activity in all of them. Research by our collaborators has shown that these compounds inhibit the growth of malignant human glioblastoma (brain cancer) cells, prostate cancer cells, lymphoma, myeloma, hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer) and cervical cancer cells in animals.

Intratumoral administration of GRN163 in an animal model of human glioblastoma resulted in complete tumor eradication in five of seven treated rats without any toxicity and significantly extended their survival compared to untreated controls. Intravenous administration of GRN163 in a study of animals bearing disseminated human multiple myeloma substantially reduced tumor growth and resulted in a 50% increase in survival compared to controls. GRN163L is identical in structure to GRN163 except that it has a lipid attached to one end of the molecule, which appears to improve its pharmacokinetics and should make its manufacture more efficient and less expensive. The improved pharmacokinetic characteristics of GRN163L suggest that it should be effective in inhibiting telomerase in tumor cells when administered intermittently (one injection every few days).

We are targeting completion of the preclinical studies by mid-2004, after which we expect to prepare and file an IND application for one or both of these compounds.

4


Telomerase Therapeutic Vaccine. Our second approach to anti-cancer therapy is a telomerase therapeutic vaccine. The goal of therapeutic cancer vaccines is to “teach” the patient’s own immune system to attack cancer cells while sparing other cells. This is done by exposing the immune system to a substance (an antigen) that is as specific to cancer cells as possible, thus inducing an immune response to any cells that present that antigen. We believe that telomerase’s characteristics make it an ideal antigen for cancer vaccines.

We are conducting basic and clinical research to confirm the safety and efficacy of telomerase vaccine therapies. In collaboration with scientists at Duke University, we published studies in the September 2000 issue of Nature Medicine, which demonstrate that cancer patients’ immune cells can be activated with a telomerase vaccine in the laboratory to kill their own cancer cells. This technique was also effective in reducing tumors in animals. A Phase I/II study in prostate cancer patients at Duke University Medical Center is currently underway using this approach. The telomerase vaccine being tested at Duke University Medical Center generates cytotoxic T-cells that attack cancer cells expressing telomerase. The Duke Phase I/II clinical trial uses an ex vivo process. Dendritic cells (the most efficient antigen-presenting cells) are isolated from the patient’s blood, pulsed with telomerase RNA, and then returned to the patient’s body where they instruct cytotoxic T-cells to kill tumor cells that express telomerase.

This clinical trial is designed to enroll a total of 24 patients with metastatic prostate cancer, 12 of whom receive three weekly vaccinations (low-dose group), and 12 of whom receive six weekly vaccinations (high-dose group). Eighteen patients (all 12 of the low-dose group and six of the high-dose group) have been enrolled and treated so far. None of the patients in either group has shown treatment-related adverse effects to date. All of the patients in the low-dose group showed a significant cellular immune response specific to telomerase. Levels of circulating cancer cells were reduced to normal in six of the eight patients who had significantly elevated levels of cancer cells circulating in their blood before the trial; and for a period of three months after treatment, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels stabilized or declined in all three of the patients who had rising levels of PSA when they entered the study. The three patients thus far analyzed in the high-dose group all showed cellular immune responses to telomerase based on tests assessing the generation of telomerase-specific cytotoxic CD-8+ T-lymphocytes, as well as CD-4+ lymphocytes. The immune responses were strong as well as specific: five to 15-fold higher, on average, than the immune responses seen in the low-dose group. Three patients in the high-dose group had elevated levels of cancer cells circulating in their blood before the trial, and those cancer cells were transiently cleared from their blood in two of those three. The level of PSA measured in the patients’ blood remained stable in three of three patients in the high-dose group during the treatment phase and for a minimum of eight weeks follow-up.

We have a collaboration agreement with Merix Biosciences, which holds the rights for the ex vivo dendritic cell processing technology used in the Duke clinical trial. We own the rights to the telomerase antigen and its use in therapeutic vaccines. Under the collaboration agreement, we may in the future grant a license to Merix to commercialize the vaccine, or Merix may grant a license to us, or we may develop it jointly. We have also granted a non-exclusive license to Dendreon Corporation to develop an ex vivo telomerase vaccine using Dendreon’s antigen-presenting system.

In addition, we are pursuing the development of in vivo telomerase cancer vaccines. Geron scientists have demonstrated that direct, in vivo vaccination in tumor-bearing mice elicits a telomerase-specific immune response and causes reduced growth of the animals’ tumors. Direct vaccination would eliminate the need for manipulation of dendritic cells in culture and potentially allow straightforward vaccination procedures to be available for all cancer patients in any oncology clinic.

Oncolytic Virus. Our third anti-cancer therapeutic strategy utilizes viruses that have been manipulated or engineered to have oncolytic, or cancer-killing, properties, enabling them to selectively target and destroy cancer cells which express telomerase. We have cloned the promoter region of the telomerase gene and employ it to switch on genes required for the virus to replicate within the cancer cell. Our data indicate that when tumor cells are infected with the virus, the virus multiplies or replicates within the cancer cells and causes the rupture and death of the tumor cells. When these same engineered viruses

5


infect normal somatic cells, there is no killing effect and the virus dissipates. This selective lytic effect on cancer has been demonstrated in vitro in seven different tumor types: prostate, liver, lung, pancreatic, colorectal, breast and ovarian cancers. These in vitro results have been extended to animal models of liver and prostate cancer with similar effects against the animals’ tumors while sparing normal cells.

We granted a non-exclusive license to Genetic Therapy, Inc. (GTI), a subsidiary of Novartis AG, to use our telomerase promoter technology to develop an oncolytic virus product. In 2003, GTI’s oncolytic virus assets and our license to GTI were acquired by Cell Genesys, which also has its own oncolytic virus program.

Cancer Diagnostics. Telomerase is a broadly applicable and highly specific marker for cancer because it has been detected in more than 30 human cancer types and in the great majority of cancer samples studied. We believe that the detection of telomerase may have significant clinical utility for cancer diagnosis, prognosis, monitoring and screening. Current cancer diagnostics apply only to a single or limited number of cancer types because they rely on molecules expressed only by particular cancer types. However, telomerase-based diagnostics could potentially address a broad range of cancers.

We have developed several proprietary assays for the detection of telomerase which are based on its activity or the presence of its RNA or protein components. The first generation assay is the Telomeric Repeat Amplification Protocol (TRAP) assay which can be used to detect telomerase activity in human tissue or cells in culture. The second generation assays detect the presence of hTR and hTERT in human tissues and body fluids. We own issued patents for the detection of telomerase activity and the components of telomerase including patents for the TRAP assay and diagnostic methods based on telomerase detection. To date, our licensees have commercialized 13 research-use-only kits that incorporate our technology.

Through Roche Diagnostics, we are participating in the development of fluids-based telomerase detection tests for clinical in vitro diagnostics. The tests are based on telomerase detection assays that we have already commercialized for the research-use-only market. Clinical research data generated by Roche indicates that an assay for telomerase is a sensitive and specific test for detecting bladder cancer with potential utility in early detection screening and monitoring of patients for recurrence. There is currently no similar diagnostic test for bladder cancer on the market, and patients who have had bladder cancer now periodically undergo invasive cystoscopy to screen for recurrence.

Human Embryonic Stem Cell Therapies

We are developing cell-based therapeutics for several diseases based on differentiated cells derived from hESCs, including neural cells for spinal cord injury and Parkinson’s disease, cardiomyocytes for heart disease, pancreatic islet ß cells for diabetes, osteoblasts for osteoporosis, chondrocytes for osteoarthritis, and hematopoietic cells for blood diseases and to prevent immune rejection of the other cell types. We have developed proprietary methods to grow, maintain and scale up undifferentiated hESCs and differentiate them into therapeutically relevant cells. We are now testing six different therapeutic cell types in animal models. In three of these cell types, we have preliminary results indicating efficacy as evidenced by functional recovery of the treated animals. After completion of these studies, we expect to begin one or more Phase I clinical trials, most likely including treatment for spinal cord injury. We own or have licenses to intellectual property covering core inventions and critical enabling technology in this field.

Oligodendrocytes for Spinal Cord Injury and Dopaminergic Neurons for Parkinson’s Disease. The major neural cells of the nervous system typically do not regenerate after injury. If a nerve cell is damaged due to disease or injury, there is no treatment at present to restore lost function. Millions of patients worldwide suffer from injury to the nervous system or disorders associated with its degeneration. Over one million Americans suffer from Parkinson’s disease, a neurological disorder caused by the progressive degeneration of specific cells within the brain that control certain motor functions. In the case of spinal cord injuries, patients are often left partly or wholly paralyzed because nerve and supporting cells in the spinal cord have been damaged and cannot regenerate. Such patients are permanently disabled, often institutionalized, and may require life support.

6


Embryonic stem cell-derived neural cells have been used by researchers to treat nervous system disorders in animal models. Mouse embryonic stem cells were stimulated to differentiate into neural cells which, when transplanted into mice with neurological disorders, helped to restore normal function. In the case of spinal cord injuries, neural cells derived from animal embryonic stem cells and injected into the spinal cord injury site produced partial recovery of the animal’s ability to move and bear weight.

We have derived both oligodendrocytes and dopaminergic neurons from hESCs in culture and have begun testing them in animal models to determine whether they can restore normal neural function. In our collaboration with researchers at the University of California, Irvine, we have shown proof-of-concept in spinal cord-injured rats which showed significant functional improvement after receiving transplants of hESC-derived oligodendrocyte progenitors. Transplant studies of dopamine-producing neurons in rodent models of Parkinson’s disease are ongoing.

Cardiomyocytes for Heart Disease. Heart muscle cells (cardiomyocytes) do not regenerate during adult life. When heart muscle is damaged by injury or decreased blood flow, functional contracting heart muscle is replaced with nonfunctional scar tissue. Congestive heart failure, a common consequence of heart muscle or valve damage, affects more than five million people in the United States. This year, it is estimated that about 1.2 million people will have a heart attack, which is the primary cause of heart muscle damage.

We can potentially treat heart disease by using cardiomyocytes derived from hESCs. Researchers have demonstrated proof-of-concept of our approach in mice. Mouse embryonic stem cells have been used to derive mouse cardiomyocytes. When injected into the hearts of recipient adult mice, the cardiomyocytes repopulated the heart tissue and stably integrated into the muscle tissue of the adult mouse heart. These results suggest that hESC-derived cardiomyocytes could be developed for cellular transplantation therapy in humans suffering from congestive heart failure and the damage caused by heart attacks. We have derived human cardiomyocytes from hESCs and observed their normal contractile function and response to cardiac drugs. We have transplanted these cells into animal models, and to date the cells appear to be engrafting and integrating with the myocardium in uninjured animals, as well as restoring cardiac function in animals with induced myocardial infarctions.

Islet Cells for Diabetes. It is estimated that there are as many as one million Americans suffering from the type of diabetes known as Type 1 Diabetes (Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus). Normally, certain cells in the pancreas, called the islet ß cells, produce insulin which promotes the uptake of the sugar glucose by cells in the human body. Degeneration of pancreatic islet ß cells results in a lack of insulin in the bloodstream which results in diabetes. Although diabetics can be treated with daily injections of insulin, these injections enable only intermittent glucose control. As a result, patients with diabetes suffer chronic degeneration of many organs, including the eye, kidney, nerves and blood vessels. In some cases, patients with diabetes have been treated with islet ß cell transplantation. However, poor availability of suitable sources for islet ß cell transplantation and the complications of the required co-administration of immunosuppressive drugs make this approach impractical as a treatment for the growing numbers of individuals suffering from diabetes.

We have derived insulin-producing islet ß cells from hESCs and are working to improve the yield of islet cells and characterize their secretion of insulin in response to glucose. We began transplanting the islets to animal models of diabetes in November 2003.

Osteoblasts for Osteoporosis and Non-Union Bone Fractures. Osteoporosis, or loss of bone density, is a common condition associated with aging and hormonal changes in post-menopausal women. In addition to skeletal deformities, back pain and loss of height, the disease causes over 1.5 million fractures per year in the United States alone. These fractures often occur after minimal trauma and if severe, as in hip fracture, carry average mortality rates as high as 24%, and result in long-term nursing home care for nearly half of those who survive. Total health care costs for osteoporosis and its complications are estimated at $17 billion per year in the United States.

The primary cause of the disease is metabolic bone loss (mediated by osteoclasts — cells which resorb bone) that is incompletely compensated by new bone formation (mediated by osteoblasts — cells

7


which form new bone). Osteoblast activity declines over human lifespan and fails to keep pace with the increasing activity of osteoclasts, resulting in progressive loss of bone density leading to fracture, pain and deformity.

We have made osteoblasts from hESCs and are now conducting preclinical tests in animals. Upon successful preclinical testing, we plan to administer the cells to patients with non-union fractures (fractures of the long bones of the leg or arm that do not heal). If these trials are successful, we plan to use these cells to treat patients with severe refractory osteoporosis.

Chondrocytes for Osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis, or Degenerative Joint Disease, is an extremely common condition characterized by degradation of cartilage in joints, often accompanied by bone remodeling and bone overgrowth at the affected joints. Depending on the criteria for diagnosis, it can be argued that the majority of the population over 50 is afflicted by the disease. Osteoarthritis is the leading cause of joint pain and joint disability in middle-aged and elderly patients. The disease has many causes, but the end result is a structural degradation of joint cartilage and a failure of chondrocytes (cartilage-forming cells) to repair the degraded cartilage collagen matrix. We plan to derive chondrocytes from hESCs and after successful in vitro and animal testing, treat patients with osteoarthritis by injecting these chondrocytes directly into their affected joints.

Hematopoietic Cells for Hematologic Diseases and to Prevent Immune Rejection. The hematologic system (the circulating cells of blood) is one of the rare tissues of the human body that can replenish itself throughout life. The critical importance of the blood cells and the many diseases that can affect those cells have caused the emergence of an entire subspecialty in medicine: hematology — the study of blood and its diseases.

One of the most complex and impactful areas of hematology is bone marrow transplantation, now used to treat patients with bone marrow failure, leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma and solid tumors such as breast cancer. The most common indications for the procedure are: 1) failure of bone marrow stem cells to produce a particular blood cell type(s), such as aplastic anemia (a deficiency of mature circulating blood cells), 2) infiltration of bone marrow by tumor cells which displace the marrow and cause deficiencies of mature circulating blood cells, or 3) side effects of chemotherapy or radiotherapy used for cancer treatment which is toxic to bone marrow stem cells. Although complex and expensive, the use of bone marrow transplantation is increasing worldwide. A major unresolved problem in the procedure is the lack of availability of suitably matched marrow donors, which severely limits the numbers of patients who can undergo the transplant.

We have derived hematopoietic stem cells from hESCs, and tests of these cells in animal models of bone marrow transplantation show engraftment of the cells. If these animal tests and other in vitro tests continue to be positive, hematopoietic stem cells produced from hESCs may find use not only in hematopoietic transplantation therapies, but also in procedures designed to prevent immune rejection of other hESC-derived transplanted cells. In January 2003, we announced that we had obtained a license to hESC-produced hematopoietic cells from the Robarts Institute and a license from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) to a U.S. patent covering the use of hESC-derived hematopoietic cells to prevent immune rejection. This approach could potentially eliminate the need for immunosuppressive drugs in patients who receive transplants of hESC-based therapeutic cells.

Our Other Development Programs

Telomerase Activation

We are also working to develop product candidates to treat various degenerative diseases by the controlled activation of telomerase. Published evidence by us and others has demonstrated that cellular aging caused by shortening telomeres, which occurs in numerous tissues throughout the human body, causes or contributes to chronic degenerative diseases and conditions including anemia, AIDS, macular degeneration (a chronic disease of the eyes often leading to vision loss), atherosclerosis (narrowing of arteries which reduces blood flow to internal organs) and impaired wound healing. Controlled activation of

8


telomerase in normal cells can restore telomere length and thereby increase the lifespan of cells without altering their normal function or causing them to become cancerous.

Skin. The skin is a major organ of the body whose deterioration with age impacts not just human physical health but also appearance and self-esteem. The thinning and increased wrinkling of older skin is symptomatic of impaired wound healing and results in increased frequency of chronic ulcers. Skin cancers are more prevalent than any other form of cancer and are believed to be caused in part by aging of skin cells.

We have studied the activation of telomerase in skin cells. Our scientists and other researchers have established that skin cells age in tissue culture and in the body with loss of telomeric DNA. The restoration of telomerase activity in skin cells in culture dramatically extends the healthy lifespan of these cells. Animal models of telomere loss also correlate cellular aging with thinning of skin, graying of hair, chronic ulcerative lesions at areas of stress and reduced ability to repair wounds. Our approach to the therapeutic use of telomerase activation in skin has included both small molecule drug discovery and biological methods of restoring telomerase in various skin cells. We have demonstrated that telomerase activation by gene therapy significantly improves wound healing in a rabbit model of skin ulceration.

AIDS. Recent work by our collaborators has shown that telomere loss in cytotoxic T-lymphocytes, the blood cells responsible for killing HIV-infected cells, is accelerated in AIDS patients, and contributes to the loss of anti-HIV activity that occurs during disease progression. In March 2003, these same collaborators published data showing that telomerase activation in T-lymphocytes both increased their lifespan and significantly enhanced their anti-HIV activity. Our approach to the therapeutic use of telomerase activation in AIDS is based upon a small molecule we have identified that activates telomerase in certain cell types.

Products for Research and Development

Immortalized Cells for Research. Scientists study specific cells from targeted tissues in order to understand their biological function. For these studies, cells are usually isolated from tissue and maintained in culture. The progressive changes in biological activity, morphology and proliferation as a result of normal cell aging in tissue culture potentially limit the utility of these cells in serial experiments and long-term research. Because of these limitations, most research laboratories utilize transformed cell lines for their studies. Cells can be transformed by using viruses which ultimately cause the cells to grow indefinitely in culture. However, such immortalized cell lines have abnormal characteristics compared to non-transformed cells. For this reason, they are not good models of normal tissue in the human body.

Telomerase-immortalized cells may be ideal for use in biological research because these cells proliferate indefinitely and function in culture in the same manner as the normal, mortal cells from which they were derived. Moreover, telomerase-immortalized cells can function in the body to form normal tissue and their capacity to differentiate into mature tissue is maintained. The ability of these cells to maintain normal physical and biological characteristics while retaining proliferative capacity allows them to be a constant source of cells for repeat and long-term studies on the function of cells both in culture and in the body. Telomerase-immortalized cells can be used to study any of the normal biological pathways in cells and can be used to screen for factors which influence the appropriate function of those cells. Moreover, cells taken from diseased tissues which are then telomerase-immortalized in culture can be used to explore the mechanism of the disease process and to develop interventions to prevent or treat that disease.

We intend to make telomerase-immortalized cell lines commercially available to the research market and to companies for basic research and for use in drug discovery and biologics production applications.

hESC-Derived Hepatocytes for Drug Screening and Toxicology. Three of the major hurdles of pharmaceutical drug development are (i) identifying compounds with activity in diseased tissue; (ii) understanding the metabolism and biodistribution of the compound; and (iii) determining the potential toxic side effects of the compound. Undesirable activity of a compound being evaluated as a drug candidate in any one of these areas can impact the development and commercialization of the drug. The earlier in development that a compound is found to have undesirable characteristics, the faster these

9


characteristics can be potentially corrected. This potentially translates into reduced costs and time in drug development, and less harmful exposure to patients in clinical trials.

Many prospective new drugs fail in clinical trials because of toxicity to the liver or because of poor uptake, distribution or elimination of the active compound in the human body. Much of the efficacy and safety of a drug will depend on how that drug is metabolized into an active or inactive form, and on the toxic metabolites that might be generated in the process. Hepatocytes, the major cells of the liver, metabolize most compounds and thereby can be used to predict many pharmacological characteristics of a drug.

There are no completely effective systems available today to accurately predict the metabolism or toxicity of a compound in human livers. Rat and mouse metabolism models only approximate human metabolism. The development of several drugs has been terminated late in human clinical trials because rodent systems utilized early in the development process failed to predict that the drug would be toxic to humans. Human hepatocyte cell lines available today do not have the same attributes as their normal counterparts in the body and must be transformed in order to maintain their proliferative capacity in culture. Access to fresh primary human liver tissue for use in toxicity studies is very limited and substantial variability can be observed depending on the individual donor, the time and process of collection and the culture conditions for the experiments.

We are developing methods to derive standardized functional hepatocytes (liver cells) from hESCs to address the significant unmet need for a reliable predictor of the metabolism, biodistribution and toxicity of drug development candidates. If we are successful, these cells would provide a consistent source of normal human liver cells that can reliably predict how a new drug will affect the livers of the people who take it. We believe that an unlimited supply of human hepatocytes which retain normal drug-metabolizing enzyme activity would address the largest bottleneck in new drug research and accelerate the drug development process. In addition, the availability of hepatocytes from numerous individuals would allow a more thorough understanding of the effects of a drug candidate on a specific individual, allowing full development of the field of pharmacogenomics; where a compound’s activity would be correlated with an individual’s genetic make-up. Geron scientists have succeeded in demonstrating that hepatocytes derived from hESCs express normal markers of hepatocyte function, including Phase 1 and Phase 2 drug-metabolizing enzymes. On October 1, 2002, we were awarded a U.S. patent covering human hepatocytes derived from hESCs and a second U.S. patent in January 2003 covering the use of hESC-derived hepatocytes for drug screening.

Nuclear Transfer: Agriculture/Xenotransplantation/Biologics

Nuclear transfer is a method for generating whole animals whose nuclear genetic material is derived solely from a donor cell from an individual animal. In this process, the nucleus containing all of the chromosomal DNA is removed from the animal egg cell and subsequently replaced with a nucleus from a donor somatic (non-reproductive) cell. Fusion between the resulting egg cell and the donor somatic nucleus results in a new cell which gains a complete set of chromosomes derived entirely from the donor nucleus. Mitochondrial DNA, providing some of the genes for energy production, resides outside the nucleus and is provided by the egg. After a brief culture period that enables the reconstituted egg cell to initiate embryonic development, the early embryo is implanted into the uterus of a female animal, where it can fully develop and result in the live birth of a cloned offspring animal. The offspring is essentially a genetic clone of (genetically identical to) the animal from which the donor nucleus was obtained.

In early 1997, Dr. Ian Wilmut and his colleagues at the Roslin Institute were the first to demonstrate with the birth of Dolly, the sheep, that the nucleus of an adult cell can be transferred to an enucleated egg to create cloned offspring. The birth of Dolly was significant because it demonstrated the ability of egg cell cytoplasm, the portion of the egg outside of the nucleus, to reprogram an adult somatic nucleus. Reprogramming enables the adult somatic cell nucleus to express all the genes required for the full embryonic development of the animal. In addition to sheep, the technique has been used to clone mice, rats, goats, cattle, rabbits, cats and pigs from donor cells and enucleated eggs from each respective animal

10


specie. In 1999, we acquired Roslin Bio-Med Ltd., a commercial subsidiary of the Roslin Institute, and an exclusive license to the use of nuclear transfer technology for the creation of cloned animals.

Agriculture. Our nuclear transfer technologies can be used for applications in agriculture that improve livestock by producing unlimited numbers of genetically identical animals with superior commercial qualities. Such applications can be extended to major agricultural sectors, such as beef, dairy, pork and poultry, to provide large numbers of animals with superior characteristics of disease resistance, longevity, growth rate or product quality.

We are licensing our nuclear transfer technology to others for applications in agriculture and production of biologicals. As of December 31, 2003, we had granted six non-exclusive licenses or license options to various companies for applications in chickens, cows, pigs, goats or other animals.

Transgenic Animals. Our nuclear transfer technology can be applied to clone animals that have been genetically engineered to produce proteins for human therapeutic or industrial use. For example, herds which carry the genes to make human antibodies could be cloned, thereby allowing for the large-scale production of therapeutic antibodies or vaccines. In 2001, we granted a non-exclusive license to Nexia Biotechnologies Inc. for the production of natural and synthetic silk proteins in goats for industrial and medical applications.

Xenotransplantation. Our nuclear transfer technologies can be used for applications in xenotransplantation to create animals whose cells, tissues or organs could be used in human organ transplantation settings. This approach could be used either as a bridge to human organ transplantation or as a long-term therapy.

Commercial Collaborations

We believe that our broad scientific platforms will generate significant opportunities for a variety of strategic collaborations. We have established and intend to continue to establish selective collaborations with leading pharmaceutical, diagnostic and technology companies to enhance our research, development and commercialization capabilities and to participate in commercialization opportunities. Among those companies are:

•  Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co., Ltd., which provided a total of $20 million of research funding to support our telomerase inhibition research program to discover a telomerase inhibitor for the treatment of cancer through which we discovered GRN163 and GRN163L, and which has rights to co-develop and market those compounds in Asia;

•  Merix Biosciences Inc. and Dendreon Corporation (discussed above under “Telomerase Therapeutic Vaccine”);

•  Cell Genesys, Inc. (discussed above under “Oncolytic Virus”);

•  Roche Diagnostics (discussed above under “Cancer Diagnostics”);

•  Transgenomic, Inc., which we have licensed to manufacture oligonucleotides and their chemical building blocks utilizing our proprietary oligonucleotide chemistry for diagnostic and therapeutic applications, and which is currently one of our contract manufacturers of the monomer building blocks used in the synthesis of GRN163 and GRN163L;

•  Variagenics, Inc., to which we granted a non-exclusive license for use of our telomerase cell immortalization technology for pharmacogenomics applications that are expected to lead to the development of molecular diagnostic products to be used by physicians for selection of optimal therapy for patients;

•  PanCel Corporation, to which we granted a non-exclusive license for the use of telomerase to develop and commercialize macroencapsulated immortalized primary human pancreatic islet cells for the treatment of diabetes; and

11


•  AviGenics, Inc., Origen Therapeutics, Inc., Viragen, Inc., Clone International, AgResearch Pty Ltd, ProLinia, Inc. and Nexia Biotechnologies Inc., to which we have granted licenses or options under our nuclear transfer technology.

Research Collaborations

We selectively enter into, and intend to continue to enter into, collaborative research agreements with leading academic and research institutions. We design these collaborative agreements to significantly enhance our research and development capabilities while enabling us to obtain commercial rights to intellectual property developed through the research collaboration. Under these agreements, we generally provide funding or other resources for scientific research in return for commercial rights to materials and discoveries arising out of this research. We seek to retain rights to develop and market discoveries made under these research programs by obtaining rights to exclusively license technology developed under them, including patents and patent applications filed in connection with these research programs.

As of December 31, 2003, we have collaborative research agreements in support of our telomerase programs in oncology and our hESC therapeutics programs with a number of institutions, including Duke University, Stanford University, the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School at Dallas, the University of California at San Francisco, the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the University of California at Irvine, the Robarts Institute, the University of Washington and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Our collaboration with the Roslin Institute, in Midlothian, Scotland began in May 1999, when we completed the acquisition of Roslin Bio-Med Ltd., a company formed by the Roslin Institute. In connection with this acquisition, we formed a research collaboration with the Roslin Institute under which we have agreed to provide approximately $20.0 million in applied research funding over six years (of which $5.8 million remains payable at December 31, 2003) and we retain exclusive license rights to commercialize the results of the research. We are using the Roslin Institute’s expertise in developmental biology to advance our hESC programs. Among other projects, we are collaborating with Roslin scientists to derive new hESC lines; to improve the efficiency of producing hepatocytes and dopaminergic neurons from hESCs; and to differentiate hESCs into chondrocytes for the treatment of osteoarthritis and osteoblasts for the treatment of osteoporosis.

Patents and Proprietary Technology

A broad intellectual property portfolio of issued patents and pending patent applications supports our product development and out-licensing activities. We currently own or have licensed over 120 issued or allowed United States patents, 125 granted or accepted foreign patents and 330 patent applications that are pending around the world.

Our policy is to seek appropriate patent protection for inventions in our principal technology platforms — telomerase, embryonic stem cells and nuclear transfer — as well as ancillary technologies that support these platforms or otherwise provide a competitive advantage to us. We achieve this by filing patent applications for discoveries made by our scientists, as well as those that we make in conjunction with our scientific collaborators and strategic partners. Typically, although not always, we file patent applications in the United States and internationally through the Patent Cooperation Treaty. In addition, where appropriate we try to obtain licenses from other organizations to patent filings that may be useful in advancing our scientific and product development programs.

Our human embryonic stem cell platform is protected by patents rights that we either own or have licensed. The patents that we have licensed include foundational hESC patents that arose from work that we funded at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. We have also filed patent applications to protect technologies developed by Geron scientists in our ongoing efforts to develop products based on hESCs. By way of example, these patent applications cover technologies that we believe will facilitate the commercial-scale production of hESCs, such as methods for growing the cells without the need for cell feeder layers. Patent applications that we own or have licensed also cover cell types that can be made from hESCs, including hepatocytes (liver cells), cardiomyocytes (heart muscle cells), neural cells (nerve cells,

12


including dopaminergic neurons and oligodendrocytes), chondrocytes (cartilage cells), pancreatic islet cells, osteoblasts (bone cells) and hematopoietic cells (blood-forming cells). Currently there are over 120 Geron-owned patent applications pending around the world covering various aspects of our stem cell technology. Examples of granted stem cell patents that are owned by Geron include U.S. Patents Nos. 6,458,589 and 6,506,574 relating to hESC-derived hepatocytes; 6,642,048 relating to conditioned medium for growing hESCs; and Australian Patent Nos. 729,377 and 751,321 covering methods of growing hESCs.

Our telomerase platform is the mainstay of our oncology program, as well as providing the basis for a number of other product opportunities. Our extensive development of telomerase technologies has so far produced over 70 issued or allowed United States patents, 80 granted foreign patents and over 95 patent applications pending around the world. Our issued United States patents include patents covering the cloned genes that encode the RNA component (hTR) and the catalytic protein component (hTERT) of human telomerase, as well as cells that are immortalized by expression of recombinant hTERT. Aspects of our oncology product development program covered by issued and pending patent applications include cancer diagnostics based on detecting the expression of telomerase in cancer cells, the use of telomerase as a cancer vaccine, the use of the hTERT promoter to power cancer-killing genes and viruses, and telomerase inhibitors for use as cancer therapeutics. We own issued patents that cover the sequences of GRN163 and GRN163L, our anti-cancer telomerase inhibitor product candidates, as well as patents covering the modified chemistry that is used to build these oligonucleotides.

Our third technology platform, nuclear transfer, is protected in part by the patent rights that we acquired in 1999 with the acquisition of Roslin Bio-Med, which we now operate as Geron Bio-Med. Five United States patents have now issued for this technology, and 33 foreign patents have been granted or accepted. In addition, we have more than 40 pending patent applications worldwide relating to nuclear transfer, arising both from the acquired patent rights and subsequent research that we funded at the Roslin Institute. Intellectual property rights to nuclear transfer technology are the primary asset of our licensing program through which we are granting licenses for cloning animals for use in agriculture, xenotransplantation and production of biologicals.

We endeavor to monitor worldwide patent filings by third parties that are relevant to our business. Based on this monitoring, we may determine that an action is appropriate to protect our business interests. Such actions may include the filing of oppositions against the grant of a patent in overseas jurisdictions, and the filing of a request for the declaration of an interference with a U.S. patent application or issued patent. Similarly, third parties may take similar actions against our patents. As examples, we are currently involved in interferences before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) involving patents and patent applications for nuclear transfer technology and an opposition in Europe filed against our granted patent relating to the measurement of telomerase activity.

Government Regulation

Regulation by governmental authorities in the United States and other countries is a significant factor in the development, manufacture and marketing of our proposed products and in our ongoing research and product development activities. The nature and extent to which such regulation applies to us will vary depending on the nature of any products which may be developed by us. We anticipate that many, if not all, of our products will require regulatory approval by governmental agencies prior to commercialization. In particular, human therapeutic products are subject to rigorous preclinical and clinical testing and other approval procedures of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and similar regulatory authorities in European and other countries. Various governmental statutes and regulations also govern or influence testing, manufacturing, safety, labeling, storage and recordkeeping related to such products and their marketing. The process of obtaining these approvals and the subsequent compliance with appropriate statutes and regulations require the expenditure of substantial time and money, and there can be no guarantee that approvals will be granted.

FDA Approval Process

Prior to commencement of clinical studies involving humans, preclinical testing of new pharmaceutical products is generally conducted on animals in the laboratory to evaluate the potential

13


efficacy and the safety of the product. The results of these studies are submitted to the FDA as a part of an IND application, which must become effective before clinical testing in humans can begin. Typically, human clinical evaluation involves a time-consuming and costly three-phase process. In Phase I, clinical trials are conducted with a small number of people to assess safety and to evaluate the pattern of drug distribution and metabolism within the body. In Phase II, clinical trials are conducted with groups of patients afflicted with a specific disease in order to determine preliminary efficacy, optimal dosages and expanded evidence of safety. (In some cases, an initial trial is conducted in diseased patients to assess both preliminary efficacy and preliminary safety and patterns of drug metabolism and distribution, in which case it is referred to as a Phase I/II trial.) In Phase III, large-scale, multi-center, comparative trials are conducted with patients afflicted with a target disease in order to provide enough data to demonstrate the efficacy and safety required by the FDA. The FDA closely monitors the progress of each of the three phases of clinical testing and may, at its discretion, re-evaluate, alter, suspend, or terminate the testing based upon the data which have been accumulated to that point and its assessment of the risk/benefit ratio to the patient. Monitoring of all aspects of the study to minimize risks is a continuing process. All adverse events must be reported to the FDA.

The results of the preclinical and clinical testing on a non-biologic drug and certain diagnostic drugs are submitted to the FDA in the form of a New Drug Application (NDA) for approval prior to commencement of commercial sales. In the case of vaccines or gene and cell therapies, the results of clinical trials are submitted as a Biologics License Application (BLA). In responding to a NDA or BLA, the FDA may grant marketing approval, request additional information or refuse to approve if the FDA determines that the application does not satisfy its regulatory approval criteria. There can be no assurance that approvals will be granted on a timely basis, if at all, for any of our products.

European and Other Regulatory Approval

Whether or not FDA approval has been obtained, approval of a product by comparable regulatory authorities in Europe and other countries will likely be necessary prior to commencement of marketing the product in such countries. The regulatory authorities in each country may impose their own requirements and may refuse to grant an approval, or may require additional data before granting it, even though the relevant product has been approved by the FDA or another authority. As with the FDA, the regulatory authorities in the European Union (EU) and other developed countries have lengthy approval processes for pharmaceutical products. The process for gaining approval in particular countries varies, but generally follows a similar sequence to that described for FDA approval. In Europe, the European Committee for Proprietary Medicinal Products provides a mechanism for EU-member states to exchange information on all aspects of product licensing. The EU has established a European agency for the evaluation of medical products, with both a centralized community procedure and a decentralized procedure, the latter being based on the principle of licensing within one member country followed by mutual recognition by the other member countries.

Other Regulations

We are also subject to various United States, federal, state, local and international laws, regulations and recommendations relating to safe working conditions, laboratory and manufacturing practices and the use and disposal of hazardous or potentially hazardous substances, including radioactive compounds and infectious disease agents, used in connection with our research work. We cannot accurately predict the extent of government regulation which might result from future legislation or administrative action.

Scientific Consultants

We have consulting agreements with a number of leading academic scientists and clinicians. These individuals serve as key consultants or as members of “clinical focus group panels” with respect to our product development programs and strategies. They are distinguished scientists and clinicians with expertise in numerous scientific fields, including embryonic stem cells, nuclear transfer and telomere and telomerase biology, as well as developmental biology, cellular biology and molecular biology.

14


We use consultants to provide us with expert advice and consultation on our scientific programs and strategies, as well as on the ethical aspects of our work. They also serve as important contacts for us throughout the broader scientific community.

We retain each consultant according to the terms of a consulting agreement. Under such agreements, we pay them a consulting fee and reimburse them for out-of-pocket expenses incurred in performing their services for us. In addition, some consultants hold options to purchase our common stock, subject to the vesting requirements contained in the consulting agreements. Our consultants are employed by institutions other than ours, and therefore may have commitments to, or consulting or advisory agreements with, other entities or academic institutions that may limit their availability to us.

Executive Officers of the Company

The following table sets forth certain information with respect to the executive officers of Geron Corporation:

Name
          Age
      Position
Thomas B. Okarma, Ph.D., M.D.
               
58
     
President, Chief Executive Officer and Director
David J. Earp, Ph.D., J.D.
               
39
     
Vice President, Intellectual Property
David L. Greenwood
               
52
     
Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer
Calvin B. Harley, Ph.D.
               
51
     
Chief Scientific Officer
Melissa A. Kelly
               
40
     
Vice President, Oncology
Jane S. Lebkowski, Ph.D.
               
48
     
Senior Vice President, Regenerative Medicine
William D. Stempel, J.D.
               
50
     
Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary
 

Thomas B. Okarma, Ph.D., M.D., has served as our President, Chief Executive Officer and director since July 1999. He is also a director of Geron Bio-Med Limited, a United Kingdom company and wholly-owned subsidiary of Geron. From May 1998 until July 1999, Dr. Okarma was the Vice President of Research and Development. From December 1997 until May 1998, Dr. Okarma was Vice President of Cell Therapies. From 1985 until joining us, Dr. Okarma, the scientific founder of Applied Immune Sciences, Inc., served initially as Vice President of Research and Development and then as its chairman, chief executive officer and a director, until 1995 when it was acquired by Rhone-Poulenc Rorer. Dr. Okarma was a Senior Vice President at Rhone-Poulenc Rorer from the time of the acquisition of Applied Immune Sciences, Inc. until December 1996. From 1980 to 1985, Dr. Okarma was a member of the faculty of the Department of Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Okarma holds a A.B. from Dartmouth College and a M.D. and Ph.D. from Stanford University.

David L. Greenwood has served as our Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer since August 1995, Vice President of Corporate Development from April 1997 until August 1999, Senior Vice President of Corporate Development from August 1999 until January 2004 and Executive Vice President since January 2004. He is a director of Geron Bio-Med Limited, a United Kingdom company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Geron, and Clone International Pty Ltd., an Australian company. From 1979 until joining us, Mr. Greenwood held various positions with J.P. Morgan & Co. Incorporated, an international banking firm, and its subsidiaries, J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. and Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York. Mr. Greenwood holds a B.A. from Pacific Lutheran University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

David J. Earp, J.D., Ph.D., joined us in June 1999 and has served as our Vice President of Intellectual Property since October 1999. From 1992 until joining us, Dr. Earp was with the intellectual property law firm of Klarquist Sparkman Campbell Leigh and Whinston, LLP where his practice focused on biotechnology patent law. Dr. Earp holds a B.S. in microbiology from the University of Leeds, England, a Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from The University of Cambridge, England, and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of California at Berkeley/U.S.D.A. Plant Gene Expression Center. He received his J.D., magna cum laude from the Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon.

Calvin B. Harley, Ph.D., has served as our Chief Scientific Officer since July 1996. From May 1994 until July 1996, Dr. Harley was Vice President of Research and from April 1993 to May 1994, Dr. Harley

15


was Director, Cell Biology. Dr. Harley was an Associate Professor from 1989 until joining us, and from 1982 to 1989, an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at McMaster University. Dr. Harley was also an executive of the Canadian Association on Gerontology, Division of Biological Sciences from 1987 to 1991. Dr. Harley holds a B.S. from the University of Waterloo, a Ph.D. from McMaster University, and conducted postdoctoral work at the University of Sussex and the University of California at San Francisco.

Melissa A. Kelly, has served as our Vice President of Oncology since January 2003. From April 2002 to January 2003, Ms. Kelly was Vice President of Corporate Development and from April 2001 to April 2002, she was General Manager of Research and Development Technologies. Ms. Kelly joined us in November 1998 as Director of Corporate Development. From 1990 to 1998, Ms. Kelly worked at Genetics Institute, Inc., serving initially as Assistant Treasurer and then as Associate Director of Preclinical Operations where she was responsible for all business development, regulatory, and project management activities for the Preclinical Development function. From 1985 to 1990, Ms. Kelly held financial management positions at several companies in the high technology industry. Ms. Kelly graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in Accounting from Boston College and received an M.B.A. in finance with high distinction from Babson College.

Jane S. Lebkowski, Ph.D., has served as our Senior Vice President of Regenerative Medicine since January 2004 and Vice President of Regenerative Medicine from August 1999 until January 2004. Since joining us in April 1998 and until August 1999, Dr. Lebkowski served as Senior Director, Cell and Gene Therapies. Formerly, Dr. Lebkowski was employed at Applied Immune Sciences from 1986 to 1995 where she served as Vice President, Research and Development. In 1995, Applied Immune Sciences was acquired by Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, at which time Dr. Lebkowski was appointed Vice President, Discovery & Product Development. Dr. Lebkowski graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.S. in Chemistry and Biology from Syracuse University and received her Ph.D. from Princeton University.

William D. Stempel, J.D., has served as our Vice President and General Counsel since January 2001 and Secretary since May 2001. From 1998 until joining us, Mr. Stempel was the General Counsel at UCSF Stanford Health Care in San Francisco. From 1987 to 1998, Mr. Stempel was Deputy General Counsel at Yale University where he worked in a wide range of areas including intellectual property, medical affairs and research administration. Mr. Stempel holds B.A. and J.D. degrees from Yale University. He is a member of the bars of the States of California, Connecticut and New York, and the United States District Courts for the District of Connecticut, Southern District of New York and Eastern District of New York.

Employees

As of December 31, 2003, we had 53 full-time employees of whom 19 hold Ph.D. degrees and 11 hold other advanced degrees. Of the total workforce, 43 were engaged in, or directly support, our research and development activities and 10 were engaged in business development, finance and administration. We also retain outside consultants. None of our employees is covered by a collective bargaining agreement, nor have we experienced work stoppages. We consider relations with our employees to be good.

ADDITIONAL FACTORS THAT MAY AFFECT FUTURE RESULTS

Our business is subject to various risks, including those described below. You should carefully consider the following risks, together with all of the other information included in this annual report and the documents incorporated by reference. Any of these risks could materially adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.

Our business is at an early stage of development.

Our business is at an early stage of development, in that we do not yet have product candidates in late-stage clinical trials or on the market. Only one of our product candidates, a telomerase therapeutic cancer vaccine, is in clinical trials. This product is being studied in a Phase I/II clinical trial being conducted by an academic institution. Our lead anti-cancer drug compounds, GRN163 and GRN163L, are

16


in preclinical testing. Our ability to develop product candidates that progress to and through clinical trials is subject to our ability to, among other things:

•  have success with our research and development efforts;

•  select therapeutic compounds for development;

•  obtain the required regulatory approvals; and

•  manufacture and market resulting products.

Potential lead drug compounds or product candidates identified through our research programs will require significant preclinical and clinical testing prior to regulatory approval in the United States and other countries. Our product candidates and compounds we have identified may prove to have undesirable and unintended side effects or other characteristics adversely affecting their safety, efficacy or cost-effectiveness that could prevent or limit their commercial use. In addition, our cancer vaccine and telomerase inhibitor product candidates may not prove to be more effective for treating cancer than current therapies. Accordingly, we may have to delay or abandon efforts to research, develop or obtain regulatory approval to market our product candidates. In addition, we will need to determine whether any of our potential products can be manufactured in commercial quantities at an acceptable cost. Our research and development efforts may not result in a product that can be approved by regulators or marketed successfully. Because of the significant scientific, regulatory and commercial milestones that must be reached for any of our development programs to be successful, any program may be abandoned, even after we have expended significant resources on the program, such as our investment in telomerase technology, which could cause a sharp drop in our stock price.

The science and technology of telomere biology and telomerase, human embryonic stem cells, and nuclear transfer are relatively new. There is no precedent for the successful commercialization of product candidates based on our technologies. These development programs are therefore particularly risky.

We have a history of losses and anticipate future losses, and continued losses could impair our ability to sustain operations.

We have incurred operating losses every year since our operations began in 1990. As of December 31, 2003, our accumulated net loss was approximately $255.7 million. Losses have resulted principally from costs incurred in connection with our research and development activities and from general and administrative costs associated with our operations. We expect to incur additional operating losses and, as our development efforts and clinical testing activities continue, our operating losses may increase in size. Substantially all of our revenues to date have been research support payments under collaboration agreements. We may be unsuccessful in entering into any new corporate collaboration that results in revenues. We do not expect that the revenues generated from these arrangements will be sufficient alone to continue or expand our research or development activities and otherwise sustain our operations.

We are unable to estimate at this time whether we will receive any revenue from the sale of diagnostic product candidates and telomerase-immortalized cell lines, and do not currently expect to receive sufficient revenues from the sale of these product candidates, if developed, to sustain our operations. Our ability to continue or expand our research activities and otherwise sustain our operations is dependent on our ability, alone or with others, to, among other things, manufacture and market therapeutic products.

We also expect to experience negative cash flow for the foreseeable future as we fund our operating losses and capital expenditures. This will result in decreases in our working capital, total assets and stockholders’ equity, which may not be offset by future financings. We will need to generate significant revenues to achieve profitability. We may not be able to generate these revenues, and we may never achieve profitability. Our failure to achieve profitability could negatively impact the market price of our

17


common stock. Even if we do become profitable, we cannot assure you that we would be able to sustain or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis.

We will need additional capital to conduct our operations and develop our products, and our ability to obtain the necessary funding is uncertain.

We will require substantial capital resources in order to conduct our operations and develop our candidates, and we cannot assure you that our existing capital resources, interest income and equipment financing arrangements will be sufficient to fund our current and planned operations. The timing and degree of any future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including:

•  the accuracy of the assumptions underlying our estimates for our capital needs in 2004 and beyond;

•  scientific progress in our research and development programs;

•  the magnitude and scope of our research and development programs;

•  our ability to establish, enforce and maintain strategic arrangements for research, development, clinical testing, manufacturing and marketing;

•  our progress with preclinical development and clinical trials;

•  the time and costs involved in obtaining regulatory approvals;

•  the costs involved in preparing, filing, prosecuting, maintaining, defending and enforcing patent claims; and

•  the number and type of product candidates that we pursue.

We do not have any committed sources of capital. Additional financing through strategic collaborations, public or private equity financings, capital lease transactions or other financing sources may not be available on acceptable terms, or at all. Additional equity financings could result in significant dilution to stockholders. Further, in the event that additional funds are obtained through arrangements with collaborative partners, these arrangements may require us to relinquish rights to some of our technologies, product candidates or products that we would otherwise seek to develop and commercialize ourselves. If sufficient capital is not available, we may be required to delay, reduce the scope of or eliminate one or more of our programs, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Some of our competitors may develop technologies that are superior to or more cost-effective than ours, which may impact the commercial viability of our technologies and which may significantly damage our ability to sustain operations.

The pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries are intensely competitive. Other pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and research organizations currently engage in or have in the past engaged in efforts related to the biological mechanisms that are the focus of our programs in oncology and human embryonic stem cell therapies, including the study of telomeres, telomerase, human embryonic stem cells, and nuclear transfer. In addition, other products and therapies that could compete directly with the product candidates that we are seeking to develop and market currently exist or are being developed by pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies and by academic and other research organizations.

Many companies are also developing alternative therapies to treat cancer and, in this regard, are competitors of ours. According to published reports as of July 2003, there were approximately 100 approved anti-cancer products on the market in the United States, and several hundred in clinical development. Many of the pharmaceutical companies developing and marketing these competing products (including AstraZeneca PLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and Novartis AG, among others) have significantly greater financial resources and expertise than we do in:

•  research and development;

18


•  manufacturing;

•  preclinical and clinical testing;

•  obtaining regulatory approvals; and

•  marketing.

Smaller companies may also prove to be significant competitors, particularly through collaborative arrangements with large and established companies. Academic institutions, government agencies and other public and private research organizations may also conduct research, seek patent protection and establish collaborative arrangements for research, clinical development and marketing of products similar to ours. These companies and institutions compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific and management personnel as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to our programs.

In addition to the above factors, we expect to face competition in the following areas:

•  product efficacy and safety;

•  the timing and scope of regulatory consents;

•  availability of resources;

•  reimbursement coverage;

•  price; and

•  patent position, including potentially dominant patent positions of others.

As a result of the foregoing, our competitors may develop more effective or more affordable products, or achieve earlier patent protection or product commercialization than we do. Most significantly, competitive products may render any product candidates that we develop obsolete.

Restrictions on the use of human embryonic stem cells, and the ethical, legal and social implications of that research, could prevent us from developing or gaining acceptance for commercially viable products in these areas.

Some of our most important programs involve the use of stem cells that are derived from human embryos. The use of human embryonic stem cells gives rise to ethical, legal and social issues regarding the appropriate use of these cells. In the event that our research related to human embryonic stem cells becomes the subject of adverse commentary or publicity, the market price for our common stock could be significantly harmed.

Some political and religious groups have voiced opposition to our technology and practices. We use stem cells derived from human embryos that have been created for in vitro fertilization procedures but are no longer desired or suitable for that use and are donated with appropriate informed consent for research use. Many research institutions, including some of our scientific collaborators, have adopted policies regarding the ethical use of human embryonic tissue. These policies may have the effect of limiting the scope of research conducted using human embryonic stem cells, thereby impairing our ability to conduct research in this field.

In addition, the United States government and its agencies have until recently refused to fund research which involves the use of human embryonic tissue. President Bush announced on August 9, 2001 that he would permit federal funding of research on human embryonic stem cells using the limited number of embryonic stem cell lines that had already been created, but relatively few federal grants have been made so far. The President’s Council on Bioethics will monitor stem cell research, and the guidelines and regulations it recommends may include restrictions on the scope of research using human embryonic or fetal tissue. The Council issued a report in July 2002 that recommended “that the federal government undertake a thorough-going review of present and projected practices of human embryo research, with the aim of establishing appropriate institutions to advise and shape federal policy in this arena.” In the United

19


Kingdom and other countries, the use of embryonic or fetal tissue in research (including the derivation of human embryonic stem cells) is regulated by the government, whether or not the research involves government funding.

Government-imposed restrictions with respect to use of embryos or human embryonic stem cells in research and development could have a material adverse effect on us, by:

•  harming our ability to establish critical partnerships and collaborations;

•  delaying or preventing progress in our research and development; and

•  causing a decrease in the price of our stock.

Potential restrictions or a ban on nuclear transfer could prevent us from benefiting financially from our research in this area.

Our nuclear transfer technology could theoretically be used to produce human embryos for the derivation of embryonic stem cells (sometimes referred to as “therapeutic cloning”) or cloned humans (sometimes referred to as “reproductive cloning”). The U.S. Congress has recently considered legislation that would ban human therapeutic cloning as well as reproductive cloning. Such a bill was passed by the House of Representatives, although not by the Senate. The July 2002 report of the President’s Council on Bioethics recommended a four-year moratorium on therapeutic cloning. If human therapeutic cloning is restricted or banned, we will not be able to benefit from the scientific knowledge that would be generated by research in that area. Finally, if regulatory bodies were to restrict or ban the sale of food products from cloned animals, our financial participation in the business of our nuclear transfer licensees could be significantly harmed.

We do not have experience as a company in the regulatory approval process, conducting large scale clinical trials, or other areas required for the successful commercialization and marketing of our product candidates.

All of our product candidates are currently in early stages of product development. We will need to receive regulatory approval for any product candidates before they may be marketed and distributed. Such approval will require, among other things, completing carefully controlled and well-designed clinical trials demonstrating the safety and efficacy of such product candidate. This process is lengthy, expensive and uncertain. We currently have no experience as a company in conducting such trials. Such trials would require either additional financial and management resources, or reliance on third-party clinical investigators or clinical research organizations (CROs). Relying on third-party clinical investigators or CROs may force us to encounter delays that are outside of our control.

We also do not currently have marketing and distribution capabilities for our product candidates. Developing an internal sales and distribution capability would be an expensive and time-consuming process. We may enter into agreements with third parties that would be responsible for marketing and distribution. However, these third parties may not be capable of successfully selling any of our product candidates.

Entry into clinical trials with one or more product candidates may not result in any commercially viable products.

We may never generate revenues from product sales because of a variety of risks inherent in our business, including the following risks:

•  clinical trials may not demonstrate the safety and efficacy of our product candidates;

•  completion of clinical trials may be delayed, or costs of clinical trials may exceed anticipated amounts;

20


•  we may not be able to obtain regulatory approval of our products, or may experience delays in obtaining such approvals;

•  we may not be able to manufacture our product candidates economically on a commercial scale;

•  we and our licensees may not be able to successfully market our products;

•  physicians may not prescribe our product candidates, or patients may not accept such product candidates;

•  others may have proprietary rights which prevent us from marketing our products; and

•  competitors may sell similar, superior or lower-cost products.

Our only product candidate that is in clinical testing is the telomerase cancer vaccine, for which we have only early and preliminary results. Early stage testing may not be indicative of successful outcomes in later stage trials.

Impairment of our intellectual property rights may limit our ability to pursue the development of our intended technologies and products.

Protection of our proprietary technology is critically important to our business. Our success will depend in part on our ability to obtain and enforce our patents and maintain trade secrets, both in the United States and in other countries. The patent positions of pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies, including ours, are highly uncertain and involve complex legal and technical questions. In particular, legal principles for biotechnology patents in the United States and in other countries are evolving, and the extent to which we will be able to obtain patent coverage to protect our technology, or enforce issued patents, is uncertain. For example, the European Patent Convention prohibits the granting of European patents for inventions that concern “uses of human embryos for industrial or commercial purposes.” We do not yet know whether or to what extent this restriction will impact our ability to obtain patent protection for our human embryonic stem cell technologies in Europe. Further, our patents may be challenged, invalidated or circumvented, and our patent rights may not provide proprietary protection or competitive advantages to us. In the event that we are unsuccessful in obtaining and enforcing patents, our business would be negatively impacted.

Publication of discoveries in scientific or patent literature tends to lag behind actual discoveries by at least several months and sometimes several years. Therefore, the persons or entities that we or our licensors name as inventors in our patents and patent applications may not have been the first to invent the inventions disclosed in the patent applications or patents, or the first to file patent applications for these inventions. As a result, we may not be able to obtain patents for discoveries that we otherwise would consider patentable and that we consider to be extremely significant to our future success.

Where several parties seek patent protection for the same tech