Aggregated News

Longtime Geron Corp. President and CEO Thomas Okarma has stepped down, replaced by Chief Financial Officer David Greenwood and director Dr. Hoyoung Huh.

Greenwood will become president, interim chief executive officer and a member of the board of directors of the stem cell therapeutics developer, while Huh becomes executive chairman.

Okarma will remain with the company as a consultant. The company did not outline what compensation Okarma would receive in that role.

The decision appears abrupt, especially with Greenwood's interim CEO role and the fact that Okarma also left the board, but Menlo Park-based Geron (NASDQ: GERN) said in a press release that the move “reflects the company’s progression into mid-stage clinical development of multiple therapeutic product candidates.”

“We are grateful to Tom for his 13 years of scientific leadership, as reflected in the company’s development of multiple product candidates that are in preclinical and clinical testing today,” Geron Chairman Alexander Barkas said in a press release.

Barkas moves to the role of lead independent director.

Geron is undertaking Phase II trials in different cancers as well as a Phase...