Replies to post #175393 on Biotech Values

[dav1234]

GERN -60% pre market ..1.66 low so far.. with $100M February raise I think they are barely trading above cash..overdone?

GERN earnings scheduled for this afternoon

[biocqr]

GERN > Imetelstat Off-Target Mechanism Might Be Its Therapeutic Mechanism of Action

http://rnaitherapeutics.blogspot.com/

It should be added here that the Geron, ISIS, and Santaris chemistries are slightly different, but share the phosphorothioate modification which in my opinion is what is causing these toxicities.

Given that the half-lives of phosphorothioate oligonucleotides in the liver are about 1 month, one would expect the low-grade liver enzyme elevations to go away with time and they might not be a show-stopper for non-chronic applications of imetelstat.

That’s the somewhat good news.

The bad news: applying a phosphorothioate oligonucleotide-based telomerase inhibitor for the treatment of cancer and increases in platelet counts sounds like a bad joke. Thrombocytopenia (decreases in platelet counts) and anti-proliferative immunostimulation are well known side effects of large doses of phosphorothioate oligonucleotides. In light of that, claiming that imetelstat works via telomerase inhibition seems a bit optimistic to put it kindly.

[jq1234]

GERN updated ET trial result at EHA last year in June. That got my attention as more and more patients got elevated ALP and total bilirubin than previously updated during 1st qtr cc in addition to elevated ALT/AST. Plus they initially said they would investigate further during 1st qtr cc, however, during 2nd qtr call, they basically said they would no longer investigate further even though they said they couldn't find out the reason. As the trial going on longer since June last year, it wouldn't be a surprise if it gets worse over time. These concerns were drowned out by Tefferi MF trial updates for the rest of last year.

Here is the relevant slide from EHA2013 presentation:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tflyw8cxo9v77mg/Photo%20Mar%2012%2C%201%2022%2035%20PM.png