Geron Corporation (NASDAQ:GERN) posted fiscal results for the first quarter closed March 31, 2017 and latest events. Operating revenue came at $537,000 in Q1 2017 versus $749,000 in the equivalent period of 2016. In the reported period, operating expenses amounted to $8 million against $9.8 million in the same period of 2016.
The highlights
Revenues for Q1 2017 constituted royalty and license fee revenues coming from different non-imetelstat license contracts. Net loss for Q1 2017 declined to $7.2 million from $8.8 million in the reported quarter. The cash/cash equivalents came at $121.7 million.
R&D expenses for the three-months concluded March 2017 declined to $3.4 million from $5 million, from the same period of 2016. It showcases the proportionate share of clinical trial expenses under the closed imetelstat deal with Janssen Biotech, Inc. The research and development expenses mainly constituted start-up costs for the IMerge trial.
Geron announced that G&A expenses in Q1 2017 came at $4.7 million, almost same as G&A expenses of $4.8 million in Q1 2016. This reduction in G&A expenses was an outcome of the reduced consulting costs.
Interest and other income amounted to $332,000 in Q1 2017 against $256,000 in Q1 2016. This increase eventually reflects higher yields on Geron’s marketable securities portfolio. The CEO John A. Scarlett, M.D. mentioned that as a product of the internal report assessment closed in April 2017 for the imetelstat clinical trials in both myelodysplastic syndromes as well as myelofibrosis, both studies are ongoing unmodified. For IMerge, the subsequent step is a decision related to the Phase III trial. If Janssen plans to progress, the Phase 3 portion can be opened for patient enrollment in the last quarter of 2017.
In the last trading session, the stock price of Geron declined more than 2% to close the day at $2.70. The decline came at a share volume of 1.16 million compared to average share volume of 1.89 million.