Menlo Park biotech company Geron Corp. (GERN) said Tuesday that it opposes a decision by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to reject a set of important embryonic stem-cell patents, to which it holds the commercial development rights.A company spokesman said the company was unlikely to be harmed by the ruling, however.
Through a patent licence with the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, Geron holds the valuable commercial rights to develop treatments based on neural, cardio and insulin-producing cells developed from embryonic stem cells isolated by University of Wisconsin researcher James Thomson.