Presentations feature real-world experience and clinical evidence in lower-risk MDS, underscoring growing global scientific engagement with imetelstat
FOSTER CITY, Calif., Oct. 12, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Geron Corporation (Nasdaq: GERN), a hematology-focused biopharmaceutical company pursuing more meaningful moments for people living with blood cancer, today announced two oral presentations and one poster presentation highlighting imetelstat in patients with lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (LR-MDS) at the 88th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Hematology and the 2026 Annual Meeting of the German, Austrian and Swiss Societies for Hematology and Medical Oncology. These presentations will feature real-world evidence and findings from the Phase 3 IMerge trial.
“We’re encouraged by the growing interest in imetelstat across the global hematology community, supported by both the clinical evidence from IMerge and an expanding body of real-world evidence in lower-risk MDS,” said Joseph E. Eid, M.D., Executive Vice President, Research and Development and Chief Medical Officer of Geron. “These presentations provide an important opportunity to share evidence relevant to patient populations across regions and engage with clinicians as we evaluate opportunities to bring imetelstat’s potential to more people living with LR-MDS around the world.”
Key takeaways from the presentations:
88th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Hematology 2026
- Real-World Experience With Imetelstat in Lower-Risk Myelodysplastic Syndromes: Insights From United States Claims Data (Eid, et al. Oral #O1-11C-4)
- The retrospective study used closed medical and pharmacy claims with linked enrollment and laboratory data from the Komodo Health database and included adults with MDS who initiated imetelstat between June 2024 and August 2025, representing the first 14 months after the launch of imetelstat in the U.S.
- In this real-world U.S. cohort (N=58), with a mean age of 75 years at diagnosis, most patients (71%) initiated imetelstat in the third line or later, with considerable anemia and a mean Charleson Comorbidity Index of 2.6 at the time of initiation.
- Despite substantial comorbidity burden, most patients remained on therapy through the early months when cytopenias typically emerge (~67% at 6 months; Kaplan-Meier [KM] estimate).
- Durable Clinical Outcomes With Imetelstat in Korean Patients With LR-MDS (Eid, et al. Poster #P3-12-5)
- This post-hoc study explores characteristics of two Korean patients with LR-MDS who had over one year of red blood cell transfusion independence (RBC-TI) with imetelstat, and explores the relationship between cytopenias and treatment outcomes with imetelstat in 13 Korean patients from the Phase 2/3 and heart rate-corrected QT interval (QTc) substudy of IMerge.
- Both patients who achieved long-term response with imetelstat experienced grade 3/4 neutropenia and grade 3/4 thrombocytopenia events early during treatment; most resolved to grade ≤2 in