On May 10, 2018 Geron Corporation (Nasdaq: GERN) reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2018 (Press release, Geron, MAY 10, 2018, View Source [SID1234526481]).

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First Quarter 2018 Results

For the first quarter of 2018, the company reported operating revenues of $318,000 and operating expenses of $7.8 million compared to $537,000 and $8.0 million, respectively, for the comparable 2017 period. Net loss for the first quarter of 2018 was $7.2 million, or $0.04 per share, compared to $7.2 million, or $0.05 per share, for the comparable 2017 period.

Revenues for the first quarter of 2018 and 2017 included royalty and license fee revenues under various non-imetelstat license agreements. The company adopted the new revenue recognition accounting standard as of January 1, 2018 using the modified retrospective transition method. Financial results for the first quarter of 2018 are presented under the new accounting standard, but prior period amounts have not been adjusted and continue to be reported under accounting standards used historically. Therefore, there is a lack of comparability to the prior period presented. As a result, the decrease in revenues for the first quarter of 2018 compared to the same period in 2017 reflects not only a reduction in the number of active non-imetelstat license agreements and decreased product sales from licensees, but also a change in the method accounting. However, the company does not expect the adoption of the new revenue recognition accounting standard to have a material impact to its financial statements on an ongoing basis.

Research and development expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017 were $2.4 million and $3.4 million, respectively. The decrease in research and development expenses for the first quarter of 2018 compared to the same period in 2017 primarily reflects reduced personnel related expenses due to lower stock-based compensation expense and lower clinical development expenses under the imetelstat collaboration with Janssen Biotech, Inc. (Janssen).

General and administrative expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017 were $5.3 million and $4.7 million, respectively. The increase in general and administrative expenses for the first quarter of 2018 compared to the same period in 2017 primarily reflects higher consulting and legal costs associated with business development activities.

Interest and other income for the three months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017 was $394,000 and $332,000, respectively. The increase in interest and other income for the first quarter of 2018 compared to the same period in 2017 primarily reflects higher yields on the company’s marketable securities portfolio. For the three months ended March 31, 2018, the company also recognized a loss of $125,000 for the change in the fair value of an equity investment as required under a new accounting standard adopted by the company as of January 1, 2018.

The company ended the first quarter of 2018 with $103.2 million in cash and marketable securities. Subsequently, in April 2018, the company completed the sale of the remaining common stock subject to its At Market Issuance Sales Agreement (Sales Agreement). Under the Sales Agreement, the company sold a cumulative total of approximately 13.8 million shares of common stock and raised net cash proceeds of approximately $48.7 million after deducting sales commissions and offering expenses payable by Geron. No further shares of common stock can be issued under the Sales Agreement. The company expects the net cash proceeds to provide additional capital structure flexibility to potentially support (i) the future development of imetelstat in collaboration with Janssen, if Janssen elects to continue the collaboration, including potentially conducting one or more imetelstat independent development plans (IDPs) under the Collaboration Agreement; (ii) the further development of imetelstat by Geron in the event the collaboration with Janssen does not continue and Geron elects to continue development of imetelstat; or (iii) prospective in-licenses or acquisitions of other oncology products, programs or companies.

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"As we have previously announced, we expect Janssen to make its decision about whether to continue their development of imetelstat by the end of third quarter of 2018," said John A. Scarlett, M.D., Geron’s President and Chief Executive Officer. "Regardless of Janssen’s future decision, we believe imetelstat warrants further development because of the activity observed in lower risk MDS patients from Part 1 of IMerge as presented at ASH (Free ASH Whitepaper) last December, and the evolving overall survival in relapsed or refractory MF patients observed in IMbark."

Annual Meeting of Stockholders

Geron’s Annual Meeting of Stockholders will be held at 4:00 p.m. PDT / 7:00 p.m. EDT on May 15, 2018. Further information about the Annual Meeting is available on Geron’s website at www.geron.com on the homepage and in the Investors section under Events.

Due to the proximity of the Annual Meeting, Geron management will not be hosting a separate first quarter conference call.