The Hygiology Post ®

MENLO PARK, Calif., Dec. 03, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Geron Corporation (GERN) today announced that updated results from Part 1 of IMerge, the Phase 2 portion of a Phase 2/3 clinical trial of imetelstat in lower risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), were presented at the 60th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting in San Diego, California on December 2, 2018. The oral presentation was made by David Steensma, M.D., Institute Physician at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School, and an IMerge clinical investigator. Geron believes these results support initiating the Phase 3 portion of IMerge to address an unmet medical need for patients for whom erythropoiesis stimulating agents (ESAs) are not effective and for whom currently available therapies show only modest efficacy.

‘The results from the Phase 2 portion of IMerge presented at ASH highlight imetelstat’s broad clinical activity, especially in difficult-to-treat patients, as indicated by the high baseline transfusion burden of the patients enrolled in IMerge. As such, we believe imetelstat could offer a much-needed alternative treatment in lower risk MDS,’ said John A. Scarlett, M.D., Geron’s President and Chief Executive Officer. ‘We remain committed to developing imetelstat and continue to plan the initiation of the Phase 3 portion of IMerge by mid-year 2019.’ “