Imetelstat: Additional Phase II data

Data from a pre-specified subgroup of 19 NSCLC patients whose tumors had short telomeres at baseline in the open-label, U.S. Phase II B012 trial in 116 patients showed that maintenance therapy with imetelstat significantly increased PFS vs. observation alone (p=0.042). In patients with medium-to-long telomeres (n=38), imetelstat did not significantly increase PFS vs. observation alone (p=0.62). Full data from the subgroup analysis will be presented next year. Geron said it is developing an assay to prospectively measure telomere length in patient tumor samples, which would be required if the company conducts a "Phase III-enabling" trial of imetelstat in patients with solid tumors that have short telomeres. ...