J&J Unit Ends Imetelstat Collaboration With Geron
September 27 2018 - 6:58AM
Dow Jones News
By Colin Kellaher
Shares of Geron Corp. (GERN) plummeted almost 70% in premarket
trading Thursday after Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ) Janssen
Biotech Inc. unit said it is ending a collaboration and license
agreement for the oncology drug imetelstat.
Janssen said the decision is the move follows a strategic review
and a decision to prioritize assets within its portfolio.
Janssen inked an agreement with Menlo Park, Calif.-based Geron
in November 2014 to develop and commercialize imetelstat in
oncology, including hematologic myeloid malignancies.
Geron said it will regain the licensed rights to the imetelstat
program, including intellectual-property rights generated under the
collaboration, without any continuing economic obligations to
Janssen, which has no further obligations to fund any of the
current imetelstat clinical trials.
Geron said patients currently enrolled in clinical trials in
myelofibrosis and myelodysplastic syndromes will continue to be
supported through the respective trial protocols, including
treatment and follow-up.
Geron said data from the initial and expansion cohorts of the
phase-2 portion of the myelodysplastic syndromes study support
further development of imetelstat, and that it is prioritizing the
initiation of the phase-3 portion.
Share of Geron, which closed Wednesday at $6.23, fell 69.5% to
$1.90 in premarket trading Thursday.
Write to Colin Kellaher at colin.kellaher@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 27, 2018 06:43 ET (10:43 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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