Aleksandra Rizo has been appointed chief medical officer of Geron (NASDAQ: [[ticker:GERN]]). Rizo comes to the Menlo Park, CA, drug developer from Summit, NJ-based Celgene (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CELG]]), where she was executive director, strategy and clinical lead. Geron also says it will open a New Jersey office to support its lead drug candidate, imetelstat.
The Geron drug is in mid-stage clinical testing as a treatment for blood disorders. The company is pressing forward with imetelstat after Janssen Biotech announced last year that it would end its partnership with Geron and return all rights to the drug.
