FOSTER CITY, Calif., Sept. 18, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Geron Corporation (Nasdaq: GERN), a hematology-focused biopharmaceutical company pursuing more meaningful moments for people living with blood cancer, today reported that, effective September 17, 2026, it granted stock options to purchase an aggregate of 821,250 shares of common stock to nine newly hired employees as an inducement material to such employees’ acceptance of employment with Geron.

The stock options have an exercise price of $1.32 per share, which is equal to the closing price of Geron’s common stock on the grant date, have a ten-year term and vest over four years, with 12.5% of the shares underlying the options vesting on the six-month anniversary of commencement of employment of such employee and the remaining shares vesting over the following 42 months in equal installments of whole shares, subject to continued employment with Geron through the applicable vesting dates.

The equity awards were granted by the Compensation Committee of Geron’s Board of Directors in accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4) and are subject to the terms and conditions of Geron’s 2018 Inducement Award Plan and the form of stock option agreement under the plan.

About Geron
Geron is a hematology-focused biopharmaceutical company pursuing more meaningful moments for people living with blood cancer. Because patients cannot wait, we approach our work with urgency, bringing together deep expertise in telomerase biology with patient perspectives and insights from clinical research and real-world care. Our medicine, RYTELO^® (imetelstat), is approved in the United States and European Union for certain patients with lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (LR-MDS). We are building on our foundation in telomerase inhibition by studying imetelstat in myelofibrosis, including a pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial in patients with JAK-inhibitor relapsed/refractory disease, as well as other hematologic malignancies. Geron is a commercial-stage company with offices in Parsippany, New Jersey and Foster City, California. To learn more, visit www.geron.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

CONTACT:
Dawn Schottlandt
Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Affairs
dschottlandt@geron.com