Venter quits as president of Celera
By Naomi Aoki, Globe Staff
J. Craig Venter, the outspoken executive who turned the effort to map the human genome into an all-out race, resigned yesterday as president of Celera Genomics, the company he helped found three years ago.
Tony White, chairman and chief executive of Applera Corp., Celera's parent, will step in as his temporary replacement. Venter said he will remain as a scientific adviser to the Maryland company, but will spend more time working at a nonprofit genetic research organization he helped to found.
Venter was often criticized for his brash style and provocative public comments on the federally funded Human Genome Project in the days before its completion. But he is largely credited with having speeded up the genomic discoveries and radically changing the field of genetic analysis.
The company he founded in 1998, though, has evolved into one increasingly focused on developing drugs rather than databases. And as it does so, White said, the company needs a leader with more experience in managing a drug-discovery and development firm.
Celera shifted its efforts last year from selling access to its genetic databases to developing drug targets based on its genetic research. Its $177 million acquisition of Axys Pharmaceuticals Inc. last year, to bolster drug-development efforts, increased the need for a top executive with experience running a drug company, Applera CEO White said.
The company's stock has fallen drastically from more than $50 per share a year ago, closing yesterday