What happened
Shares of Geron (GERN -6.17%) 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.
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.