Editas Medicine shares fall over 20 percent on departure of CEO

Editas Medicine said Tuesday that CEO Katrine Bosley has decided to step down from her role effective March 1, with board member Cynthia Collins appointed to the position on an interim basis. Bosley will also step down as president of the company and from the drugmaker's board of directors. Editas' shares fell up to 21 percent on the news.

Bosley was appointed chief executive of Editas in 2014, shortly after the launch of the company. Editas indicated that it has initiated a search process to identify a permanent CEO, with Bosley continuing in an advisory capacity until the end of 2019.

Commenting on the news, Bosley said "the team at Editas…is making the future of medicine a reality," continuing "I'm very proud of them and all they have accomplished." In November last year, the FDA gave the green light for a Phase I/II study of EDIT-101, the company's experimental CRISPR genome-editing drug being developed in partnership with Allergan to treat Leber's congenital amaurosis type 10.

The planned departure of Bosley comes shortly after chief financial officer Andrew Hack announced that he will leave Editas, also on March 1.

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