Dew, I think the reason is, this study is a single center (Mayo) IST that was to be (and apparently is) a segue into a larger multicenter study, if data was supportive and it appears to be. The study was to have target completion date in March of this year. The original design called for 29 patients but was expanded when the data was (according to management) "unprecedented" . I think to give credit where due although very early there do appear to be cases of complete reversal of bone marrow fibrosis to the chagrin of the Jak2 believers. There are also cases of symptom abatement and extra marrow effects. Furthermore there may be some effect on other related diseases such as MPD and AML, yet to be shown. According to Geron they just wanted to wait until they got enough data from a single site to know they wanted to commit to a multi center trial. I am not sure I see the irregularity associated with this decision. It is surely material, hence the 8K? Your thoughts as always appreciated. There is certainly bone marrow suppression and at least one death associated with the drug probably due to aggressive dosing to push for remission. The terminology for some on the board is a little different than for solid tumors for example CR means complete remission not complete response. Dr Teferri and other world experts have worked out a careful and complete grading system to assess drug effect. I am not seeing the bad news here others have made out so I do appreciate your take on this greatly. Regards, bp
