PharmAust suffers from the departure of board members as chairman

The surprising announcement from Dr. Michael Thurn’s move to step down as CEO of PharmAust (ASX: PAA) last month, less than a year after taking the role, was followed by a mass exodus from the Perth-based clinical biotech board, as reported today announced.

Dr. Roger Aston and Robert Bishop, co-founders of Pitney Pharmaceuticals, which was acquired by PharmAust in 20https://www.businessnewsaustralia.com/13, have both resigned from the board with immediate effect.

They were joined by newly appointed executive director Dr Thomas Duthy, who only joined the PharmAust board in February as part of a “strategic appointment” to strengthen the board’s acumen in governance and business development.

News of the departure pushed PharmAust shares https://www.businessnewsaustralia.com/ 18 percent lower to https://www.businessnewsaustralia.com/18c in early trading after a two-day trading halt. Shares fell 3c to https://www.businessnewsaustralia.com/19c at https://www.businessnewsaustralia.com/1https://www.businessnewsaustralia.com/1.45am (AEST).

The resignation is reinforced by Aston’s role as long-term chairman of PharmAust since 20https://www.businessnewsaustralia.com/13, when he and Bishop joined the board after Pitney’s takeover.

Aston, who served as the company’s executive chairman until Duthy’s appointment last year, is also the inventor of many of PharmAust’s existing and pending patents for monepantel for both veterinary and human use.

Former CEO of Mayne Pharma Group (ASX: MYX), Aston has extensive experience in the pharmaceutical sector, from startups to large corporations.

Neither he nor Bishop have given reasons for their departure from PharmAust, but in a statement on behalf of the outgoing directors, Aston said they are “grateful for the opportunity to serve PharmAust”.

“We are passionate about monepantel’s prospects in difficult-to-treat neurological conditions such as MND/ALS (motor neuron disease) and wish the company every success with John Clark as managing director in the future,” Aston said.

Clark, the former chief operating officer of PharmAust, was appointed interim CEO following Thurn’s resignation on April 23 for personal reasons. Today, the company announced Clark as Thurn’s permanent replacement.

Thurn was only appointed head of the company in August last year, replacing Aston as executive chairman. PharmAust has appointed chief financial officer Sam Wright as interim chairman, replacing Aston.

Marcus Hughes, one of PharmAust’s largest shareholders, has also been appointed as a non-executive director to fill some of the void left by the board exodus.

PharmAust says Hughes brings more than 20 years of listed company experience, including senior management, tax and finance roles at Lendlease (ASX: LLC), Fortescue Metals (ASX: FMG) and Rio Tinto (ASX: RTO).

“We have made new additions to the board with the drive, requisite experience and skills that will enable the continued development and success of PharmAust and Monepantel at this crucial stage of the business,” said Wright.

“We will continue to strengthen the management team around John. I would like to thank all the outgoing directors for their service to PharmAust, some of them over many years, and wish them all the best in their future endeavours.”

Wright says the company and shareholders are “particularly indebted” to Aston and Bishop.

“It has been both an honor and a pleasure to work with these gentlemen for almost a decade,” he says.

“Roger guided the company through several challenges with limited resources and left PharmAust in a much better position than when he joined the company.

“Robert’s guiding principle was to always put the interests of shareholders first and do the best we could, whatever hand we had.”

PharmAust is planning a webinar for investors soon to outline “the journey and next steps for the company”.

In its latest update for the March quarter, PharmAust announced that it had entered into manufacturing process development agreements with Syngene International and Catalent Pharma Solutions to begin large-scale validation and registration of batches of monepantel to support approval and commercialization of the regulatory authorities.

PharmAust’s veterinary program, which is nearing commercialization phase, focuses on the treatment of cancer in dogs. The company’s key molecule in this treatment is monepantel, an existing veterinary drug that is already widely used as an antiparasitic and has key patents owned by Elanco that will expire in 2024 and 2025 in key global markets.