[6] Upon Mr. Caldwell's death on December 13, 2010, Gary Rabin, a member of ACT's board of directors with experience in investment and capital raising, assumed the role of Chairman and CEO.
[7] In 2007 the company's Chief Scientific Officer (CSO), Michael D. West, PhD, also founder of Geron[8] left Ocata to join a regenerative medicine firm, BioTime as CEO.
[10] On November 22, 2010, the company announced that it had received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to initiate the first human clinical trial using embryonic stem cells to treat retinal diseases.
[13] In July 2014, Ocata announced that Paul K. Wotton, previously of Antares Pharma Inc (ATRS:NASDAQ CM), became President and Chief Executive Officer.
[18] In November 2010 the FDA allowed Ocata to begin a Phase I/II human clinical trial to use its retinal pigment epithelium cell therapy to treat Stargardt disease, a form of inherited juvenile macular degeneration.