First, who are the Nobel Prize winners? Why is their research so important in the areas of aging and cancer detection?
Three Americans won the Nobel Prize for medicine. They are Elizabeth Balckburn, Jack Szostak and Carol Greider. Balckburn is with the University of California, San Francisco, Greider is with Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore and Szostak is at the Harvard Medical School.
They are sharing the Nobel Prize winnings of $1.4 million dollars. They were awarded the prize for discovering "telomerase," the enzyme that renews little caps on the ends of chromosomes whose natural fraying underlies cancer and aging. Their discoveries have added a new dimension to our understanding of the cell, shed light on disease mechanisms and stimulated the development of potential new therapies.
Merck & Co. (NYSE: MRK )is developing a vaccine that targets telomerase under an agreement with US biotech company Geron Corp. (NASDAQ: GERN) with early trials on a therapeutic vaccine since early last year. A Swedish professor said that the research has broad implications for cancer, certain inherited diseases and aging.
If you have interests in these areas, you could pursue your own inquiry. You could also follow the progress of Merck's vaccine as it comes to market.
Based on this research, do you believe that Merck and Geron are stocks that you would buy?
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