2023-04-20 12:18:00 ET
Shares of Geron (NASDAQ: GERN) , a clinical-stage biotech company, were up more than 30% this week before CEO John A. Scarlett's scheduled appearance at the Needham Virtual Healthcare Conference on Thursday morning.
The stock soared 16% on Wednesday, as a leaked abstract regarding a trial for Carvykti -- a CAR-T cell blood therapy by Johnson & Johnson and Legend Bio -- may have lifted hopes for other blood therapies in the industry, such as Geron's imetelstat.
Geron focuses on blood-related cancers, and imetelstat is its lead pipeline candidate. The therapy is awaiting approval from the Food and Drug Administration following a phase 3 study that showed the therapy was useful in treating patients with low-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), a group of disorders caused by blood cells that are poorly formed or don't work properly. Imetelstat improved transfusion independence at 24 weeks and reduced the number of transfusions patients needed and raised patients' hemoglobin levels.
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Why Shares of Geron Are Up 30% This Week