STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2020
Stockholders Equity Note [Abstract]
STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY	7. STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY Public Offering On May 27, 2020, we completed an underwritten public offering of 107,049,375 shares of our common stock and a pre-funded warrant to purchase 8,335,239 shares of our common stock, together with accompanying stock purchase warrants to purchase 57,692,307 shares of our common stock. The shares of common stock and the pre-funded warrant were immediately separable from the stock purchase warrants. All of the securities were issued separately. The combined public offering price of the common stock and accompanying stock purchase warrants was $1.30 per share. The stock purchase warrants have an exercise price of $1.30 per share and are exercisable immediately. The term of the stock purchase warrants expires on the earlier to occur of (a) the date that is 30 business days following the date on which we first issue a press release disclosing, if applicable, positive top-line safety and efficacy results from the Phase 3 portion of IMerge and (b) December 31, 2025. The combined public offering price of the pre-funded warrant and accompanying stock purchase warrants was $1.299 per share. The pre-funded warrant has an exercise price of $0.001 per share and may be exercised at any time until the pre-funded warrant is exercised in full. The net cash proceeds from this offering were approximately $140,184,000, after deducting the underwriting discount and other offering expenses paid by us, and excluding any future proceeds from the exercise of the pre-funded warrant or the stock purchase warrants. Upon the issuance of the pre-funded warrant and stock purchase warrants, we evaluated the terms of each warrant to determine the appropriate accounting and classification pursuant to FASB Accounting Standards Codification Topic 480, Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity, and FASB Accounting Standards Codification Topic 815, Derivatives and Hedging. Warrants are classified as liabilities when the warrant terms allow settlement of the warrant exercise in cash and classified as equity when the warrant terms only allow settlement in shares of common stock. The terms of the pre-funded warrant and the stock purchase warrants include certain provisions related to fundamental transactions, a cashless exercise provision in the event registered shares are not available, and do not include any mandatory redemption provisions. Based on our evaluation, we have concluded the pre-funded warrant and the stock purchase warrants should be classified as equity with no subsequent remeasurement as long as such warrants continue to be classified as equity. In the third quarter of 2020, stock purchase warrants for 12,500 shares of our common stock were exercised, and we received proceeds of $16,000. As of September 30, 2020, the pre-funded warrant to purchase 8,335,239 shares of our common stock was outstanding and stock purchase warrants to purchase 57,679,807 shares of our common stock were outstanding. At Market Issuance Sales Agreement On May 18, 2018, we entered into an At Market Issuance Sales Agreement, or the 2018 Sales Agreement, with B. Riley FBR, Inc., or B. Riley FBR, pursuant to which we may elect to issue and sell shares of our common stock having an aggregate offering price of up to $100,000,000 in such quantities and on such minimum price terms as we set from time to time through B. Riley FBR as our sales agent. We paid B. Riley FBR an aggregate commission rate equal to up to 3.0% of the gross proceeds of the sales price per share for common stock sold through B. Riley FBR under the 2018 Sales Agreement. From January 2020 through April 2020, we sold an aggregate of 3,496,616 shares of our common stock pursuant to the 2018 Sales Agreement, resulting in net cash proceeds to us of approximately $4,075,000, after deducting sales commissions and other offering expenses paid by us. No further shares have been sold pursuant to the 2018 Sales Agreement. On September 4, 2020, we entered into an At Market Issuance Sales Agreement, or the 2020 Sales Agreement, with B. Riley Securities, Inc., or B. Riley Securities, pursuant to which we may elect to issue and sell shares of our common stock having an aggregate offering price of up to $100,000,000 in such quantities and on such minimum price terms as we set from time to time through B. Riley Securities as our sales agent. We agreed to pay B. Riley Securities an aggregate commission rate equal to up to 3.0% of the gross proceeds of the sales price per share for common stock sold through B. Riley Securities under the 2020 Sales Agreement. In connection with the 2020 Sales Agreement, we terminated the 2018 Sales Agreement. On September 4, 2020, we filed a registration statement on Form S-3, or the registration statement, which includes a prospectus pursuant to which we may offer and sell, from time to time after the effectiveness of the registration statement, shares of our common stock having an aggregate offering price of up to $100,000,000 under the 2020 Sales Agreement. Until the registration statement becomes effective, if ever, we cannot execute any sales under the 2020 Sales Agreement. 2018 Inducement Award Plan In December 2018, our board of directors approved the adoption of the 2018 Inducement Award Plan, or the Inducement Plan, pursuant to which we reserved 3,000,000 shares of Geron common stock (subject to customary adjustments in the event of a change in capital structure) to be used exclusively for grants of inducement awards to individuals who were not previously Geron employees or directors, other than following a bona fide period of non-employment. In January 2019 and February 2020, our Compensation Committee approved amendments to increase the reserve of shares of our common stock under the 2018 Inducement Award Plan by 5,000,000 and 1,300,000 shares, respectively. The Inducement Plan provides for the grant of nonstatutory stock options, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock awards, restricted stock units and other stock awards, and all awards under the Inducement Plan are intended to meet the standards under Rule 5635(c)(4) of the Nasdaq Listing Rules. The terms and conditions of the Inducement Plan and the inducement awards to be granted thereunder are substantially similar to our stockholder-approved 2018 Equity Incentive Plan. 2018 Equity Incentive Plan In June 2020, our stockholders approved an amendment to our 2018 Equity Incentive Plan to increase the total number of shares issuable under such plan by 5,700,000 shares of our common stock.

STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

7. STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

Public Offering

On May 27, 2020, we completed an underwritten public offering of 107,049,375 shares of our common stock and a pre-funded warrant to purchase 8,335,239 shares of our common stock, together with accompanying stock purchase warrants to purchase 57,692,307 shares of our common stock. The shares of common stock and the pre-funded warrant were immediately separable from the stock purchase warrants. All of the securities were issued separately. The combined public offering price of the common stock and accompanying stock purchase warrants was $1.30 per share. The stock purchase warrants have an exercise price of $1.30 per share and are exercisable immediately. The term of the stock purchase warrants expires on the earlier to occur of (a) the date that is 30 business days following the date on which we first issue a press release disclosing, if applicable, positive top-line safety and efficacy results from the Phase 3 portion of IMerge and (b) December 31, 2025. The combined public offering price of the pre-funded warrant and accompanying stock purchase warrants was $1.299 per share. The pre-funded warrant has an exercise price of $0.001 per share and may be exercised at any time until the pre-funded warrant is exercised in full. The net cash proceeds from this offering were approximately $140,184,000, after deducting the underwriting discount and other offering expenses paid by us, and excluding any future proceeds from the exercise of the pre-funded warrant or the stock purchase warrants.

Upon the issuance of the pre-funded warrant and stock purchase warrants, we evaluated the terms of each warrant to determine the appropriate accounting and classification pursuant to FASB Accounting Standards Codification Topic 480, Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity, and FASB Accounting Standards Codification Topic 815, Derivatives and Hedging. Warrants are classified as liabilities when the warrant terms allow settlement of the warrant exercise in cash and classified as equity when the warrant terms only allow settlement in shares of common stock. The terms of the pre-funded warrant and the stock purchase warrants include certain provisions related to fundamental transactions, a cashless exercise provision in the event registered shares are not available, and do not include any mandatory redemption provisions. Based on our evaluation, we have concluded the pre-funded warrant and the stock purchase warrants should be classified as equity with no subsequent remeasurement as long as such warrants continue to be classified as equity. In the third quarter of 2020, stock purchase warrants for 12,500 shares of our common stock were exercised, and we received proceeds of $16,000. As of September 30, 2020, the pre-funded warrant to purchase 8,335,239 shares of our common stock was outstanding and stock purchase warrants to purchase 57,679,807 shares of our common stock were outstanding.

At Market Issuance Sales Agreement

On May 18, 2018, we entered into an At Market Issuance Sales Agreement, or the 2018 Sales Agreement, with B. Riley FBR, Inc., or B. Riley FBR, pursuant to which we may elect to issue and sell shares of our common stock having an aggregate offering price of up to $100,000,000 in such quantities and on such minimum price terms as we set from time to time through B. Riley FBR as our sales agent. We paid B. Riley FBR an aggregate commission rate equal to up to 3.0% of the gross proceeds of the sales price per share for common stock sold through B. Riley FBR under the 2018 Sales Agreement. From January 2020 through April 2020, we sold an aggregate of 3,496,616 shares of our common stock pursuant to the 2018 Sales Agreement, resulting in net cash proceeds to us of approximately $4,075,000, after deducting sales commissions and other offering expenses paid by us. No further shares have been sold pursuant to the 2018 Sales Agreement.

On September 4, 2020, we entered into an At Market Issuance Sales Agreement, or the 2020 Sales Agreement, with B. Riley Securities, Inc., or B. Riley Securities, pursuant to which we may elect to issue and sell shares of our common stock having an aggregate offering price of up to $100,000,000 in such quantities and on such minimum price terms as we set from time to time through B. Riley Securities as our sales agent. We agreed to pay B. Riley Securities an aggregate commission rate equal to up to 3.0% of the gross proceeds of the sales price per share for common stock sold through B. Riley Securities under the 2020 Sales Agreement. In connection with the 2020 Sales Agreement, we terminated the 2018 Sales Agreement. On September 4, 2020, we filed a registration statement on Form S-3, or the registration statement, which includes a prospectus pursuant to which we may offer and sell, from time to time after the effectiveness of the registration statement, shares of our common stock having an aggregate offering price of up to $100,000,000 under the 2020 Sales Agreement. Until the registration statement becomes effective, if ever, we cannot execute any sales under the 2020 Sales Agreement.

2018 Inducement Award Plan

In December 2018, our board of directors approved the adoption of the 2018 Inducement Award Plan, or the Inducement Plan, pursuant to which we reserved 3,000,000 shares of Geron common stock (subject to customary adjustments in the event of a change in capital structure) to be used exclusively for grants of inducement awards to individuals who were not previously Geron employees or directors, other than following a bona fide period of non-employment. In January 2019 and February 2020, our Compensation Committee approved amendments to increase the reserve of shares of our common stock under the 2018 Inducement Award Plan by 5,000,000 and 1,300,000 shares, respectively. The Inducement Plan provides for the grant of nonstatutory stock options, stock appreciation rights, restricted stock awards, restricted stock units and other stock awards, and all awards under the Inducement Plan are intended to meet the standards under Rule 5635(c)(4) of the Nasdaq Listing Rules. The terms and conditions of the Inducement Plan and the inducement awards to be granted thereunder are substantially similar to our stockholder-approved 2018 Equity Incentive Plan.

2018 Equity Incentive Plan

In June 2020, our stockholders approved an amendment to our 2018 Equity Incentive Plan to increase the total number of shares issuable under such plan by 5,700,000 shares of our common stock.