ImetelChat

Did the fireside chat on September 4, Wells Fargo Healthcare Conference, actually happen?

Normally, you can watch it on the day, and so far not seen any links or reports.

I find it interesting how few if any comments have been made regarding the Wells Fargo fireside chat with Herout Semerjain. I guess everyone is just waiting for the revenue to pick up and some major announcement PR. I thought it was a very good fireside chat and remain positive for the company and shareholders in-spite of whatever it is that continues to hold the stock price down and our frustrations up.

Anyway FWIW here are some approximations of HS's comments and I would encourage everyone to actually listen to the 32 minutes of audio:

1. HS has spent most of his 30+ years working in oncology. Geron has been on his radar screen for a long time and very excited to be here. He has a very broad and extensive geographical background including Europe and Africa, etc.

2. Clinical effects of Rytelo are very clear in terms of transfusion independence and durability of response.

3. There was a discrepancy of what the market expected in terms of startup trajectory. We are in a bit of catch up mode and are spending much effort and time on education of the hematologist and oncologist. We have the funding to do what we need to do here. As with any drug, it does not sell itself. We have to help the doctors understand how to use Rytelo. Also, since the majority of the CT sites were x-US, getting the word out was even more challenging for the US launch and US physicians playing catch up and that unfortunately takes time.

4. We had 400 accounts at the beginning of the year and now we are at 1000. 2/3 of the 1000 accounts have re-ordered. More doctors are now using Rytelo than are not.

5. 2/3 of patients are in the RS negative category which is the primary wheelhouse of a Imetelstat. It is also where we have a 3X improvement interms of primary endpoints. These are very robust results.

6. 30+% of patients are now coming from second line and that's growing. Active patient management is necessary to keep patients on Rytelo after experiencing adverse events (AEs) which is cytopenia's and neutropenia's primarily. It's very predictable within three cycles into treatment with Rytelo but transient for about 80% and only lasts about 2 weeks.

7. While 80% experience the AEs, during the IMerge 15% unfortunately fully stopped taking Rytelo during the two weeks of the adverse events. Again, active management is necessary and we are working with both the physicians and the patients to help them to work through this in order to achieve the transfusion independence and durability of response. And importantly the AEs are because of the on-target response to Rytelo.

8. We know that those physicians that have used Rytelo have a more favorable view will tell you that adverse events become secondary in nature once they were familiar with how Rytelo works. As opposed to physicians who have yet to use it, their primary focus tends to be on the AEs and of major concern for their patients as well.

9. We want to be very smart with our investments and we have a great financial team that will keep us in check. We expect our expenses to run in the 270 - 280MM but we want to be on the low end of that. Once we have achieved full enrollment in IMpactMF P3 we should see our expenses come down and can shift resources into other areas.

10. We are in it for the long run and we want to make sure we get the fundamentals right so we have a solid foundation and steady growth. Every quarter we want to do something better than the last. Potential of the drug hasn't changed, the ramp up has. We don't want to just achieve just the promise of Rytelo, we want to see the ramp up of Rytelo. We believe Geron can be another hematology powerhouse.

11. We are focused on metrics to measure both the lagging (i.e. sales) and leading indicators. We really want to know if we are on the right track and are having the right conversations with physicians and have a dynamic feedback loop. We didn't have this before but we will going forward and even more. We want to insure that the up to seven teams touching a given account are working together and communicating with each other and insuring the physicians and patients are getting what they need.

12. We believe the best way to kick off EU is to have a good value proposition and successful US experience. There are 3 tenants of a "No Regrets Entry". 1. take seriously the patients and physicians in EU that have been involved in our CTs and want to have the ability to serve both the physicians and patients effectively. 2. want to make sure we are engaging with the correct entities, payers, etc. 3. Insure our supply chain is set up and functioning to make sure we can get Rytelo into the various countries. Rytelo needs to be everywhere, we (Geron) doesn't need to be everywhere.

13. The business case for Rytelo with just MDS is very good. The business case for Rytelo with MF is even better and we will really be in business if IMpactMF P3 is anywhere close to the P2 results.

Thank you so much for this, Hunt. I needed this. I listened to the chat, but I suppose I didn’t hear it. As I referenced, haven’t been in a good state of mind.

It’s go time, in so many different ways…

thanks for the summary Hunt - especially like 13

Very nice summary, Hunt. I think this all speaks for itself but until revenues show an asymptote, there wont be increased interest. Hoping for a big ASH this year as ferroptosis and combinations move to the front of the arena. PIII MF should be fully enrolled any day now. Other posters have expressed disappointment, the experience of holding this stock and waiting forever has been universal. It certainly speaks for just how difficult it is for a small independent biotech to run long large studies, much less get FDA approval for a unique drug. To my knowledge Geron has never shown a profit since its inception.

Thanks for the summary, HB. Hang in there, Ryan - we will succeed.