Geron Corp Stock Price, News & Analysis

Geron (GERN) has scheduled the release of its fourth quarter and full-year 2024 financial results before market opening on Wednesday, February 26, 2025. The company will host a conference call at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time on the same day to discuss financial results and business highlights.

The conference call will include a related presentation and will be accessible via webcast through the company's website. An archive of the webcast will remain available for 30 days following the event. Interested participants can register for the webcast through a provided registration link.

Geron (GERN) has granted equity awards totaling 312,000 shares to three new employees as employment inducements. The awards, granted on January 17, 2025, consist of:

- Stock options to purchase 208,000 shares at $2.89 per share (closing price on grant date)
- Restricted stock units (RSUs) representing 104,000 shares

The stock options have a 10-year term with a vesting schedule of 12.5% after six months and the remaining shares vesting over 42 months. RSUs vest 25% annually over four years. These awards were granted under Geron's 2018 Inducement Award Plan, complying with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4).

Geron (Nasdaq: GERN) has granted non-statutory stock options to new employees as employment inducements. The company issued options to purchase 72,000 shares of common stock on December 18, 2024, with an exercise price of $3.77 per share, matching the closing price on the grant date. The options have a 10-year term and vest over four years, with 12.5% vesting after six months and the remainder vesting in equal installments over the following 42 months, contingent on continued employment. These grants were made under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4) and Geron's 2018 Inducement Award Plan.

Geron (Nasdaq: GERN) received a positive opinion from the European Medicines Agency's CHMP recommending the approval of RYTELO (imetelstat) for treating adult patients with transfusion-dependent anemia due to lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (LR-MDS). The treatment is specifically for patients without an isolated deletion 5q cytogenetic abnormality who had unsatisfactory response to or are ineligible for erythropoietin-based therapy.

The recommendation is based on the IMerge Phase 3 clinical trial results, which demonstrated reduced need for red blood cell transfusions in the first 24 weeks compared to placebo. If approved by the European Commission, RYTELO would become the first telomerase inhibitor available in Europe, administered as 47 mg and 188 mg lyophilized powder for intravenous infusion.

Geron (GERN) presented Phase 1 findings from the IMproveMF study at the 66th ASH Annual Meeting, demonstrating the tolerability of RYTELO™ (imetelstat) combined with ruxolitinib as frontline therapy for myelofibrosis patients. No dose-limiting toxicities were observed across all dose levels, and pharmacokinetic profiles aligned with previous monotherapy studies.

Based on safety results, imetelstat 9.4 mg/kg dosed every four weeks with ruxolitinib was selected for the dose expansion Part 2, which is currently enrolling patients. Grade 3 treatment-emergent adverse events were reported in 47% of patients, with no Grade 4 or 5 events observed. The study showed preliminary evidence of variant allele frequency reductions and symptom improvement across dose cohorts.

Geron (GERN) presented new analyses from the IMerge clinical trial at the 66th ASH Annual Meeting, demonstrating RYTELO™ (imetelstat)'s clinical activity in lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (LR-MDS) patients. The data suggests effectiveness regardless of prior therapies, including in patients who previously received luspatercept or lenalidomide.

Key findings from pooled data of 226 imetelstat-treated patients showed consistent clinical activity with the IMerge Phase 3 pivotal trial. The QTc substudy demonstrated an absence of proarrhythmic risk and confirmed efficacy in patients with prior treatments. Patient-reported outcomes showed sustained improvement in fatigue and maintenance of quality of life compared to placebo.

Geron (Nasdaq: GERN) has announced its upcoming participation in the 7th Annual Evercore ISI HealthCONx Conference. The company's management team will engage in a fireside chat at the event, scheduled for December 4, 2024, at 8:20 a.m. ET in Coral Gables, Florida. A webcast of the presentation will be accessible through the Investors and Media section of Geron's website under Events and will remain available for replay for 30 days following the event.

Geron (Nasdaq: GERN) announced the granting of non-statutory stock options to newly hired employees. The company granted options to purchase 1,017,000 shares of common stock at an exercise price of $3.99 per share, matching the closing price on November 20, 2024. The options have a 10-year term and vest over four years, with 12.5% vesting after six months and the remainder vesting over 42 months in equal installments. These grants were made as employment inducements under Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635(c)(4) and are subject to Geron's 2018 Inducement Award Plan.

Geron (Nasdaq: GERN) has appointed Joseph Eid, M.D. as Executive Vice President, Research and Development, effective November 11, 2024. Dr. Eid brings over two decades of experience in medical affairs and clinical development, having previously served at Dragonfly Therapeutics and Luzsana Bio. He will lead Geron's R&D organization, overseeing medical, clinical, and safety teams to support RYTELO™ commercially. As part of his employment agreement, Dr. Eid received a stock option grant for 2,500,000 shares at $4.12 per share, vesting over four years.