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Geron Names Kapur as EVP of Corporate Strategy and Chief Commercial Officer
6 December 2019 - - US-based Geron Corp. (NASDAQ: GERN) has appointed Anil Kapur as executive vice president, corporate strategy and chief commercial officer, the company said.

With this appointment, all functions of a fully-integrated, late-stage drug development executive leadership team are now in place.

In his role at Geron, Kapur will be a member of the company's Executive Management Committee. His initial focus will be on developing value-creating strategic plans to build Geron's hematology-oncology franchise while leading the company's assessment of additional indications for imetelstat.

As Geron continues to advance the imetelstat program toward potential commercialisation over time, he will be responsible for implementing Geron's commercial strategy and forming a commercial organization.

Kapur brings more than 19 years of US and global biopharmaceutical experience to Geron. Most recently, he was chief commercial officer at Actinium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he created a strategic commercialization roadmap to help the company transition from clinical stage to a commercial entity.

Prior to that, Kapur was vice president, Head of Early Assets, Biomarkers and External Innovation for Worldwide Oncology Commercialization at Bristol-Myers Squibb company.

In this role, he led early-asset and biomarker commercial groups with a mandate for accelerating the development of the immuno-oncology portfolio comprising over 20 pipeline assets, including collaborations.

Previously, Kapur was vice president, Global Head of Commercial and Portfolio Strategy at Baxalta, Inc., where he was responsible for growing the newly created Baxalta Oncology Division into a top-tier global oncology business and leading the global commercialization efforts of the company's oncology portfolio.

During Kapur's 15-year tenure at Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson and Johnson (Janssen), he held marketing and sales leadership roles of increasing responsibility for both the US and ex-US markets.

As vice president, Commercial Leader, Hematology Franchise in Janssen's Global Commercial Strategy Organization, he led the development and execution of commercial strategy and launch plans for in-market development, late development, and early pipeline assets, including myeloid malignancies.

During this time at Janssen, Kapur worked on early commercialisation plans for imetelstat.

Among Kapur's most recognized achievements while at Janssen were the successful global launches of two transformational blockbuster hematology-oncology drugs, Imbruvica and Darzalex.

Kapur holds a Bachelor of Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology in India; an M.S. in Industrial Engineering from Louisiana Tech University; and an M.B.A from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.

In connection with the commencement of Kapur's employment with the company on December 2, 2019, the company granted him a non-statutory stock option to purchase 700,000 shares of Geron common stock which vests over four years, with 12.5% of the shares underlying the option vesting on the six-month anniversary of commencement of employment and the remaining shares vesting over the following 42 months in equal installments of whole shares, subject to Kapur's continued employment with Geron.

In addition, Kapur was granted a non-statutory stock option to purchase 250,000 shares of Geron common stock on December 2, 2019 with vesting conditioned on the achievement of a certain regulatory milestone for imetelstat, subject to Kapur's continued employment with Geron on the vesting date.

All of Kapur's stock options have a 10-year term and an exercise price of USD 1.43 per share, which is equal to the closing price of Geron common stock on the date of grant.

The stock options were granted as a material inducement to Kapur's employment in accordance with NASDAQ Listing Rule 5635(c) (4) and are subject to the terms and conditions of stock option agreements covering the grants and Geron's 2018 Inducement Award Plan, which was adopted December 14, 2018 and provides for the granting of stock options to new employees.

Imetelstat is a novel, first-in-class telomerase inhibitor exclusively owned by Geron and being developed in hematologic myeloid malignancies.

Early clinical data suggest imetelstat may have disease-modifying activity through the suppression of malignant progenitor cell clone proliferation, which allows potential recovery of normal hematopoiesis.

Ongoing clinical studies of imetelstat consist of IMerge, a Phase 2/3 trial in lower risk myelodysplastic syndromes, and IMbark, a Phase 2 trial in Intermediate-2 or High-risk myelofibrosis.

Imetelstat has been granted Fast Track designation by the United States Food and Drug Administration for both the treatment of patients with non-del(5q) lower risk MDS who are refractory or resistant to an erythropoiesis-stimulating agent and for patients with Intermediate-2 or High-risk MF whose disease has relapsed after or is refractory to janus kinase inhibitor treatment.

Geron is a late-stage clinical biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and potential commercialisation of a first-in-class telomerase inhibitor, imetelstat, in hematologic myeloid malignancies.
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