StemCells shares rise as company gets key nerve patent

Shares jumped 15 cents, or 11 percent, to $1.52 in morning trading.

"We are confident that any third party wishing to commercialize neural stem cells as potential therapeutics or to use them as drug screening tools will have to seek a license from us irrespective of how they derive the cells," said Martin McGlynn, president and chief executive. "We have already granted licenses to several companies and are currently considering licensing others."