GERN Geron Corp

   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)

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