Merck to buy equity in Geron

News of Merck’s intended equity buy runs concurrent to Geron’s plans to offer six million shares of its common stock in an underwritten offering made from effective shelf registration statements.

Merck entered into a deal in July this year to develop Geron’s cancer vaccine targeting an enzyme that promotes replication of cancer cells. As part of that agreement, Merck consented to acquire equity in Geron in the next round of the company’s financing.

Merck has been active recently in boosting its anticancer research, securing renewable rights to use Vical’s non-viral gene delivery technology against cancer targets just days ago.

Geron is focused on developing and commercializing three groups of products. These are therapeutic products for oncology that target telomerase, pharmaceuticals that activate telomerase in tissues impacted by senescence, injury or degenerative disease, and cell-based therapies derived from its human embryonic stem cell platform for applications in multiple chronic diseases.