(Reuters) – Shares of Geron rose almost 16% on Friday before market, a day after getting its first approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a drug to treat transfusion-dependent anemia in patients with a group of blood cancers.
The drug, which will be sold under the brand Rytelo, will compete with Bristol Myers Squibb’s Reblozyl to treat transfusion-dependent anemia in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes – a group of blood cancers where blood cells in the bone marrow do not mature or become healthy blood cells.
Geron said it will give information on the new drug’s pricing and availability in a conference call with investors later in the day. News of the approval came late on Thursday.
In March, the independent advisers to the FDA backed the benefits of the drug, saying it outweighed its risks.
Geron shares were up 15.68% to $4.5 in pre market trading.
(Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)
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