Geron Corporation Announces Closing of its Public Offering of Common Stock and Exercise of Option to Purchase Additional Shares

Geron Corporation GERN announced today the closing of its previously announced public offering of 22,500,000 shares of its common stock, as well as 3,375,000 additional shares of its common stock pursuant to the full exercise of the underwriters' option to purchase additional shares. The public offering price was $4.00 per share and the total net proceeds to Geron from the public offering are expected to be approximately $96.7 million, after deducting the underwriting discount and estimated offering expenses payable by Geron. Geron intends to use the net proceeds from this public offering to fund research and development, including the company's planned Phase 2 clinical trial of imetelstat in myelofibrosis, and for working capital and general corporate purposes. BofA Merrill Lynch acted as sole book-running manager; Stifel acted as lead manager and Lazard Capital Markets LLC, Piper Jaffray & Co. and MLV & Co. acted as co-managers for the offering. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any of these securities, nor will there be any sale of these securities in any state or other jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or other jurisdiction. A shelf registration statement on Form S-3 relating to the public offering of the shares of common stock described above was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and is effective. A prospectus supplement relating to and describing the terms of the offering was filed with the SEC and is available on the SEC's web site at www.sec.gov. Copies of the prospectus supplement may also be obtained from the offices of BofA Merrill Lynch, 222 Broadway, New York, NY 10038, Attn: Prospectus Department, or via email at dg.prospectus_requests@baml.com. About Geron Geron is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing a telomerase inhibitor, imetelstat, in hematologic myeloid malignancies. Forward-Looking Information is Subject to Risk and Uncertainty Investors are cautioned that statements in this press release regarding anticipated net proceeds from the offering and Geron's intended use of the net proceeds from this public offering to fund research and development, including the company's planned Phase 2 clinical trial of imetelstat in myelofibrosis, and for working capital and general corporate purposes constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, higher than estimated offering expenses; whether a regulatory agency permits the planned Phase 2 clinical trial to commence on the expected timeline, or at all, and proceed to completion without delay, or at all; whether imetelstat can safely be administered to patients; whether patient enrollment meets Geron's enrollment goals and timeline; whether Geron is able to raise significant additional capital to fund its operations and raise capital when needed; whether Geron has sufficient patent protection to enable it to develop imetelstat; and the customary risks and uncertainties that biotechnology companies in the pre-commercial development phase face. If any of these risk and uncertainties were to occur, it would force Geron to delay, reduce or terminate its imetelstat clinical development program, which would have a material adverse affect on Geron's business, operations and stock price. Actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements. Additional information on other potential factors that could affect Geron's results and other risks and uncertainties can be found under the heading "Risk Factors" in Geron's Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on January 30, 2014, available on the SEC's web site at www.sec.gov. Geron expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in its expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statements are based.