Benzinga's Small Cap Movers for Monday December 10, 2012

Below are highlights from Benzinga's daily coverage of small cap securities making big moves: Acura Pharmaceuticals Shares of Acura Pharmaceuticals ACUR, the Palatine, IL specialty pharmaceutical company, rose 71% Monday on 34 times average volume. Acura Pharmaceuticals announced Monday the launch of Nexafed, a 30 mg immediate-release next generation pseudoephedrine product, combining effective nasal-congestion relief with a unique technology that disrupts the conversion of pseudoephedrine into the dangerous drug, methamphetamine. Nexafed is now available to national and regional drug wholesalers and will be available to pharmacies soon. This is the second of two products to reach the market that utilize Acura's abuse-deterrent technologies. Acura Pharmaceuticals closed at $2.45 on Monday. Timberline Resources Shares of Timberline Resources TLR, the Coeur D'Alene, ID gold and silver exploration company, rose 29% Monday on twice4 times average volume. Timberline Resources announced Monday that it has received a draft Hard Rock Operating Permit for its Butte Highlands Gold Project from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ). The Company also received a Compliance Determination setting forth the MDEQ''s determination that the completed application for the operating permit complies with the substantive requirements of Montana''s Metal Mine Reclamation Act. Timberline Resources closed at $0.38 on Monday. Geron Shares of Geron Corp. GERN, the Menlo Park, CA biopharmaceutical company, rose 15% Monday on 4 times average volume. Geron announced Monday, positive clinical results from the Phase 2 trial of imetelstat, the company`s first-in-class telomerase inhibitor, in patients with essential thrombocythemia (ET). ET is a chronic blood disorder that is representative of a group of diseases known as myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs). The data, which showed rapid and durable hematologic and molecular responses in patients treated with imetelstat, were presented Sunday evening in an oral session at the 54th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) in Atlanta, GA, by Prof. Dr. med. Gabriela M. Baerlocher of the University Hospital and University of Bern, Switzerland, and a principal investigator of the trial. Geron Corp. closed at $1.22 on Monday and traded $.10 higher after-hours. The information in this article is taken from public sources, press releases, and websites that cannot always be verified. Please note that investing in microcap stocks is highly speculative. The companies mentioned here are for information purposes only. Benzinga makes no claim as to the suitability of these stocks as an investment. Neither Benzinga nor its staff recommend that you buy, sell, or hold any security. We do not offer investment advice, personalized or otherwise. Benzinga recommends that you conduct your own due diligence and consult a certified financial professional for personalized advice about your financial situation.