Geron jumps on myelofibrosis data for imetelstat

Shares of Geron Corp. (NASDAQ:GERN) more than doubled on Thursday before closing up $1.61 (45%) to $5.21 on data for imetelstat ( GRN163L) to treat myelofibrosis (MF). In 18 evaluable patients in an investigator-sponsored, open-label pilot trial, IV imetelstat led to an overall response rate (ORR) of 44%, including four complete remissions, one partial remission and three patients with clinical improvement. Among the four patients with complete remission, two who were transfusion-dependent at baseline became transfusion-independent and two had complete molecular responses. The data, released in an American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting abstract, are slated to be presented at the conference in December. ...