Geron Reports Two Poster Presentations at American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting - Seite 2

To learn more about the IMerge Phase 3 clinical trial and whether the study is enrolling patients in your area, please visit www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT02598661).

IMerge Phase 2 Data Summary

• Imetelstat treatment showed meaningful and durable transfusion independence in 38 non-del(5q) lower risk MDS patients who were naïve to HMAs and lenalidomide.
  • 42% (16/38) of patients achieved ≥8-week RBC-TI
  • 29% (11/38) of patients achieved ≥24-week RBC-TI
  • Median duration of TI was 85.9 weeks (range: 8.0-140.9)
  • 68% (26/38) of patients achieved HI-E, or improvement in red blood cell count, as measured by either transfusion reduction or a rise in hemoglobin:
    • All 26 patients had a reduction of at least four RBC units over eight weeks compared with prior transfusion burden
    • 12 patients had a hemoglobin increase of at least 1.5 g/dL lasting at least eight weeks
  • Mean relative reduction in transfusion burden from baseline was 68%
• Transfusion independence was observed across different MDS patient subgroups.
• Biomarker data suggested potential impact on malignant clone and disease modification by imetelstat treatment.
• No new safety signals were identified. Reversible cytopenias were the most frequent adverse events.

Non-Clinical Data Poster Presentation

Title: Combination Treatment with Imetelstat, a Telomerase Inhibitor, and Ruxolitinib Depletes Myelofibrosis Hematopoietic Stem Cells and Progenitor Cells (Abstract #2963)

This poster presentation described results from early, nonclinical experiments on the potential effect of combining imetelstat and ruxolitinib on malignant myelofibrosis (MF) cells. The experiments explored the hypothesis that, due to different mechanisms of action, a combination of imetelstat and ruxolitinib might create a treatment regimen for MF that could be more efficacious than using either drug alone in reducing both malignant progenitor and stem cells. Ruxolitinib is a janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor that inhibits proliferation of malignant progenitor cells without eliminating malignant stem cells. Imetelstat is a telomerase inhibitor that selectively depletes malignant progenitor and stem cells.