One Way To Bet On The American Society Of Hematology's Meeting Next Month

Geron is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of a telomerase inhibitor, imetelstat, in hematologic myeloid (MF) malignancies. The company will receive attention during the upcoming American Society of Hematology (ASH) conference in early December when Dr. Ayalew Teffari will present imetelstat's pilot study. In a report published Monday, Thomas Yip of FBR & Co. maintained an Outperform rating on the stock with an unchanged $6 price target as the company's imetelstat exposure at the upcoming ASH conference could "attract investors." "We think this presentation could attract investors who are new to Geron and unfamiliar with imetelstat's potential in MF and could also provide additional clinical evidence of imetelstat in other hematological malignancies such as myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and acute myelogenous leukemia (AML)," Yip wrote. Yip continued that the total US MF market is projected to be valued at over $2.5 billion by 2028, assuming MF prevalence of approximately 15,000 patients and annual treatment cost of $170,000. The analyst added that he is expecting Geron's imetelstat to gain US approval and market launch in 2022, with gross sales reaching over $1.5 billion by 2028. Yip also noted that his "excitement" for imetelstat stems from its ability to elicit bone marrow fibrosis reversal in seven of 33 MF patients evaluated in a pilot study. The reversal suggests that imetelstat may curtail or reverse MF disease progression and could possibly be superior to Jakafi, the current standard of care for MF.