Geron Corporation shares (NASDAQ:GERN) continue to rise today. The biopharmaceutical company focuses on cancer research, and today surged up to approximately 18.38%.
The company released its fourth quarter and annual financial results and this press release on March 16. Though the market had already closed for the week, Geron’s stocks rose by about 28%, closing at $4.34 USD, the following Monday.
The company currently has two clinical trials researching imetelstat, an inhibitor of the enzyme Telomerase; IMerge, a clinical trial of imetelstat in red blood cell (RBC) transfusion-dependent patients with lower risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) who are resistant to treatment with an erythropoiesis-stimulating agent (ESA), and IMbark, a clinical trial that aims to evaluate the two doses of imetelstat in intermediate-2, or high-risk myelofibrosis (MF) patients who are resistant to, or have relapsed, after treatment with a Janus Kinase (JAK) inhibitor.
Featured in the company’s annual results, John A. Scarlett, Geron’s President and Chief Executive Officer, said that phase one of IMerge yielded data showing how imetelstat has “potential disease-modifying activity by inhibiting the progenitor cells of the malignant clones that drive the underlying diseases.”
It was also mentioned that imetelstat had received Fast Track designation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the potential treatment of adult patients with cancer and transfusion-dependent anemia due to Low or Intermediate-1 risk of Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS).
The Fast Track was due to the sponsorship of the application by Geron’s collaborative partner Janssen Biotech, Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), which included initial data from the imetelstat IMerge clinical trial.
Janssen recently completed their third internal data review of IMBark this month and now must decide if it will continue to maintain the license and rights of imetelstat and its continued development.
As of right now, stocks continue to rise for Geron Corporation and look as though they will continue to rise in the coming days.
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