The president and CEO of embattled SYNSORB Biotech Inc. has stepped down in the wake of his company’s termination of once-promising drug trials and the closure of its Calgary manufacturing plant.
David Cox is leaving the company “to pursue other opportunities,” a company statement said last week. Board chair Richard Casey has also resigned, and will be replaced by board member Gerry Quinn.
Current company CFO Bill Hogg has been elected to the board of directors and assumed the role vacated by Cox, who will continue in a part-time consulting role until the end of July.
“These changes are prudent and appropriate for SYNSORB under the current circumstances,” said Quinn.
“We have made considerable progress in reducing costs to a minimum. SYNSORB may return a portion of its assets directly to our shareholders. However, it is our intention to remain as a going concern, and to continue as a public company.”
The company was forced to shelve its showcase anti-diarrhea drug SYNSORB-Cd late last year after trial tests showed inadequate enrolment rates and an “unacceptably high” dropout rate of participants in the Phase 3 clinical trials.
A 30,000-sq.-ft. manufacturing facility in Calgary was also closed.
