What happened
Shares of Geron (GERN 0.63%) were trading up by 35.8% as of 11:33 a.m. EDT on Friday. The big jump came after the company published data from its phase 2 clinical study evaluating imetelstat as a treatment for myelofibrosis, a rare type of bone marrow cancer.
So what
Geron's latest results were published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Patients in the phase 2 study who had poor outcomes with previous treatments experienced several clinical benefits after treatment with imetelstat, including improvements in symptoms and increased overall survival.
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The biotech stock skyrocketed Friday because investors think that Geron's latest data bodes well for imetelstat's chances of success in late-stage testing. The company is currently evaluating the experimental drug in two phase 3 studies, one targeting myelofibrosis and another targeting myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), a group of rare bone marrow disorders.
Now what
Geron expects to complete enrollment in its phase 3 study of imetelstat in treating MDS in the second half of this year. Top-line results from the study could be announced as early as late 2022. Geron anticipates an interim analysis from its late-stage study targeting myelofibrosis in 2024.
