Senior management at Inflazyme Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (NEX:IZP.H) are leaving the company as part of the Vancouver biotech's plan to cut costs as it struggles to maintain shareholder value.
Inflazyme's Kevin Mullane, president and CEO; David Burgoyne, vice-president of business development; and John Langlands, senior director of clinical research, will leave the company January 1.
The company said their departure will help reduce Inflazyme's expenses and maintain shareholder value following the $11 million sale in mid-November of the company's assets to Swedish biotech Biolipox AB.
Mike Liggett, Inflazyme's CFO, and Julie Rezler, the company's senior director of corporate development, will be the company's remaining two employees.
With the departure of the company's senior management, Inflazyme expects its monthly cash costs to average approximately $150,000, with total severance payments of about $900,000.
The company's fortunes began to sour in late January when its main asthma drug undergoing Phase 2b trails reportedly produced no statistical improvement over the placebo given to patients.
Company shares were trading as high as $0.27 immediately prior to the release of trial results; they fell to $0.12 after the announcement. Inflazyme's shares continued to nosedive as low as $0.03 before the company moved to the NEX, the Toronto Stock Exchange's junior exchange, in mid-November.
Inflazyme's share price during the past week: between $0.02 and $0.025; 52-week high: $0.305; 52-week low: $0.01.