Time for Chip to go

[kmall]

Keeping it short and sweet

Geron CEO Dr. Scarlett has done his shareholders a disservice. They have had years to gauge the marketplace, inform physicians who would prescribe and install a sales team who could execute on company guidance that they have been projecting since 2019. That call was a travesty.

The buck stops with the captain of the ship. -Kmall

[lausanne]

Absolutely. This is total mismanagement. Any other competent leader would sail this gem like a charm. Despite all these breakthrough science and drug, the company has been run lame.

[rccola335]

I have been saying this that they didn’t want to sell or bring a partner on for Europe. Their plan was to get the approval there and have such stellar MF results that they could sell the entire thing. But the MF delay has left them with their pants down. They basically could have approval for MDS in Europe and don’t know what to do with it. Impact was supposed to be done May 2024

[kmall]

And while you're at it, take Behrs and Koval too......I'm sure no one will be missing them either. -Kmall

[Zhears]

Chips answer to the EU question in the call was woeful. No answer on why approval is late, although we are still in the 1st half of 25, but we all know it should be done by now.
At this stage, more information on commercialization in the EU should of been forthcoming, instead of "we are 90% focused on the USA."
That really does seem like dropping the ball here.

Although this managed share price decline, and the absence of options over the next few months is beyond strange. Normally if they had advanced knowledge of something like this a huge amount is made on options. This time the volume wasn't there.
I wouldn't be at all suprised by an aggressive buyout at a bargain price now.

[jayfish101]

I am concerned about how disorganized they were during the presentation. People weren't paying attention to questions and discussions. What are they preoccupied with? Share price drop? Buyout negotiations?
Clearly they are avoiding the EMA approval issue.
"We are currently unable to display the new and recently updated medicines authorised for cancer due to a technical error. We are working to resolve the issue as soon as possible. We apologise for any inconvenience caused."
This is still on the EMA website. Someone is covering something.

[KTArsenal]

It’s not a conspiracy, Jayfish.

Geron’s management is lazy and it showed from their earnings call today.

“Riding into the sunset” is millionaire-speak for “sorry we didn’t do better for you. I did very well, myself, and the sunset is nice where I am.”

[kmall]

KT - not only are they lazy and deceitful, but they're also greedy.....a trifecta of deplorable traits in any organization. -Kmall

[Ryan]

Dr. Scarlett is the Chairman of the Board, so I don’t see this happening.

What we really really (really) need is a partner in Europe. They clearly are not able to handle a launch effectively, and in Europe they would have even more difficulty. He even said they are fully focused on USA. So I am just praying they do the right thing and ink an experience, large BP partner, rather than wait numerous Quarters to try to hack together a sales/marketing organization for the EU.

[jayfish101]

I never said conspiracy. Business plan? Secrets are often a part of a business plan. Distractions? Bigger fish to fry?
The people hired were never described on this board as lazy. In fact, there were a lot of accolades.

[KTArsenal]

The days of wine and roses are over.

Dr. Scarlett brought imetelstat to commercialization and we’re all grateful for his services, and so will MDS patients—if they could get the d*mned medicine prescribed to them in a timely manner, and we’re all unsure that this is the case right now. 3rd line of attack for MDS seems sketchy for BAT.

Some business entity hasn’t done their job, and it’s probably a direct reflection of upper management’s inability to prepare for future headwinds. Earnings call proved that.

Fill in the blanks. For me, the people that are supposedly in charge aren’t really in charge at all.

Anil Kapur’s dismissal or resignation and his replacement has not helped to extinguish the fire and he was terrible during the earnings report. Maybe we’re seeing the rotten fruits of Kapur’s lackadaisical approach to imetelstat’s commercialization, but maybe not. We’ll never know, but we are at sub $2, sitting on a “potential blockbuster medicine” that management continues to parakeet as a safety net for their continued ineptitude at playing biotech chess after approval.

[kmall]

I'm a little dismayed and surprised at a few of the comments here in other posts regarding the obvious complete meltdown of management since FDA approval. These employees are well seasoned professionals in the BIG PHARMA world who are extremely well compensated by US - the shareholders. Geron is one of the highest paying in the industry, if not the highest.

Most of the management team here have salaries in the $700k+/yr, on top of several hundred thousand options - just for signing on. They also get yearly bonuses totalling 500k+ in options and now RSU's.

BTW - shed some dead weight over there already. Going through management I could easily ax probably half of those positions. Koval and Behrs between their salaries and options costing the company about $3M or so a year......DEAD WEIGHT.....goodbye!

So you pay top dollar - you EXPECT top results. I've actually read....."well it was the holidays and oncologists don't like to prescribe.....blah, blah, blah"

Most of these individuals have been in the industry for DECADES. They don't know the yearly sales patterns? I was in wholesale sales for quite a while - I can tell you exactly when it was a slow period, or very active from my YEARS of experience and how to prepare in advance. That has to be one of the lamest excuses I read, but there have been many more.

I do realize that this board is not the dump on management board, so I have refrained. The only other time I brought up what I thought was a complete disservice to shareholders was when their HEAD of IR - took maternity leave about a month before top line results were to be announced. A complete fumble on Scarletts part as far as not having someone else to fill her role at that time period......I'm being very kind in what I'd like to write, but most here have been invested in this company even longer than myself. That was a complete slap in the face after waiting YEARS for these results, not to have internal shareholder representation at that moment. It sure smelled like FU to me. And remember within an hour of dropping news on what should have been a joyous celebration for shareholders who have invested with hard earned $$, and waited YEARS for these results, they drop an offering on us which plummets the stock to almost Sept 2018 levels..... double FU shareholders.

Where was the VP of sales Scott Huston who was hired in October of 2021 on Wednesday?

Why wasn't HE THERE to explain why he's had almost 3 years to prepare for FDA approval and post approval SALES???

Here is a guy with almost 3 decades of SALES experience - from JNJ, to Bristol Meyers to AstraZeneca to Medivation - you're going to tell me he had no clue that the holidays are a quiet period? He should have been on that call, along with a couple of others from the "sales/channel distribution" departments explaining themselves. Instead we got Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum, both bought in at the 11th hour to try and salvage the wreckage from Kapur who was another highly compensated buffoon. No offense Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum, but you were both completely unprepared and you're both making good coin over there for doing practically nothing. I know I could do BOTH of your jobs for half your pay. Be prepared for a F'ing call. It was the most pathetic call I've ever listened too......if the plane crashed into the train, which went off the rails and hit a school bus, that wasn't even nearly as bad.

Sorry, but the buck STOPS with the guy in charge handing out ridiculous pay packages like a drunken sailor, while handsomely rewarding himself year after year. I sure wish he would ride off into the sunset so we could get someone in there who actually makes good on their word, takes PRIDE in their work performance and holds those under him ACCOUNTABLE for once.......that word is probably like kryptonite to old Chip.

Off the soapbox for now, but always here for any of you who need a good old fashioned reality check. -Kmall

[huntingonthebluffs]

Good post kmall as usual plenty of detail and the usual backup. I agree with a lot of your points.

I don't think it was a complete meltdown, but it certainly wasn't a stellar effort by anyone on the call. I think a lot of us on this board have a business perspective and know not every situation that we see from an external vantage point is accurate. I suspect you're right that there is deadweight and some of the high paid employees and their related responsibilities are not being handled properly or effectively and may not be even necessary. However, I don't think you throw the management team out the door for two decent quarters and a red flag on future revenue expectations that can most likely be addressed in a quarter or two at most and this is only the second quarter since they actually started generating revenue.

Maybe it's just my old age since it has taken a lot of years to get here, but I have come to see things in a more positive way and prefer to always look at the cup as half full versus half empty. It is well past time to have the management team performing more efficiently, but that's still a fixable situation and it's one that I think Dr. Scarlett is focused on and giving 90% of their attention to getting the US market squared away. Also, I don't think it makes a lot of sense to start focusing on Europe when you've got issues that you need to get corrected quickly in the US. I believe he is pointed in the right direction and focused on the correct opportunities for the company. While the buck stops at the CEO, I think he should have at least the 3-4 quarters they have said they need to get all the moving parts up to speed including the Geron team, the oncologist, patients, revenue streams, etc. before making major changes. And btw where is the COO in all of this, shouldn't he be handling the day to day company business? Seems to me he needs to step up on a lot of things as well. And what about the BODs, they are complicit in the pay packages, EVP hires etc. aren't they the ones looking at what it takes to hire and keep the necessary talent to execute the corporate strategy?

I personally have not heard anyone say that oncologists don't like to prescribe during the holidays. But I know from personal experience from family members and close friends that they approach the holidays very tentatively when considering going on new drugs to treat their MPN's. These are generally older and very sick patients and to go on something that is nearly 100% guaranteed to make them not feel better in the first month or two, and maybe not at all, is a risky proposition for them when their days, especially holidays, are often numbered anyway. Many patients I suspect will want to error on the side of status quo so that they are able to enjoy the holidays as best they can with their families.

Also let's not forget the competition which likes to promote the expected and manageable side effects of Rytelo as draconian. This is an area that marketing needs to get their arms around and address more effectively. There are 15k patients and 7k oncologists in the US so it is a sizable challenge.

Lastly, I don't think Dr. Scarlett is that concerned about the retail investor. I personally don't lose any sleep over it. He has said some things in the past that made us think that he does have our interests at heart, but the fact of the matter is we now represent 10% or less of the stock ownership. And I think, regardless of what he said in the past, he's probably not able to be that focused on what's best for the thousands of retail investors making up 10% of the company ownership although I think we are all mostly aligned with company strategy.

My reality is that this will all get straightened out fairly soon, but if not, the major owners will be willing to step in. However, I doubt they will handle any remediation in our or the patients best interest.

If I were to point out anything I am dismayed at it would be the labored CT progress and getting the IP opportunities moving again e.g. Imetelstat 2.0. , etc. and the ease at which the stock price evaporated over the last 6 months. I think Dr Scarlett is a scapegoat who owns some but very little of that excessive value destruction. Maybe you can use some of your great investigative skills to shine a bright light on what happened there.

[kmall]

Hunt - as always, a well thought out and constructed post. I will address some finer points you have provided as well as things I believe the company could be doing to enhance their presence in both the patient/physician community, as well as establish themselves a little more firmly amongst Big Pharma in the space. It's definitely not rocket science, but it's also not all about handing out disturbingly high pay packages and fancy titles to DO NOTHING Executives. The proof is in the pudding. No more excuses - put the big boy pants on - own it - perhaps show a little bit of dignity for once instead of constantly ingratiating yourself for simply doing your job, that you're getting paid pretty darn well to NOT do. -Kmall