Less than a year after joining Intrexon Corp (NYSE:XON) from Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE), Geno Germano is leaving the company after a reorganization that saw the programs he was heading stripped away and handed to a new entity. The programs that were stripped away are the human health projects. They are now under a firm named Precigen.
Following the restructuring, Intrexon will shift its focus to biological engineering programs that are concentrated on other sectors including environmental science, energy and food. Germano will still be working in the pharmaceutical industry.
“I have come to realize that my preference is to work within the industry where I spent most of my life. I therefore am leaving the company to continue my career in the pharma/biopharma industry,” Germano said in a statement.
Pfizer stint
At Pfizer, Germano headed the pharmaceutical giant’s innovative pharma unit. He left following an executive reshuffle which had been necessitated by a merger that had been planned between Pfizer and Allergan plc Ordinary Shares (NYSE:AGN). The merger plans never came to fruition.
With Germano’s exit, the plans by RJ Kirk, the current chairman, to resign the role of chief executive officer and become the company’s executive chairman are now on hold.
Since Precigen was hived off from Intrexon, the outfit already has a number of projects that it is pursuing. Xogenix, a firm that Precigen has a 75% stake in, possesses cardiac disease gene therapies in preclinical development. Intrexon had earlier in January acquired GenVec, a delivery specialist in the gene therapy tech sector.
Trial stages
Other drugs include a breast cancer treatment that is currently in a phase two trial stage. There are also treatments for oral mucositis and inflammatory bowel disease which are in the phase 1 stage of testing.
Intrexon also owns other firms that are engaged in unconventional businesses. This includes one that has developed a genetically modified mosquito that is designed to combat the Zika virus. There is also another one which has developed a topical substance that can be used to remove tattoos painlessly.
In the early hours of Tuesday’s trading session, shares of Intrexon Corp had fallen by 4.20% to hover around $21.90.
