Drug Maker NitroMed’s President, CFO Step Down

Two top executives of a tiny pharmaceutical company behind the first drug approved for use in a specific racial group resigned Tuesday without explanation.

The move followed disappointing initial sales for the heart failure medication BiDil -- which was approved last year for use only among self-identified blacks. Shares of NitroMed Inc. rose more than 9% amid rumors that the 100-employee company could be a takeover target.

A news release from Lexington, Mass.-based NitroMed did not say why Chief Executive and President Michael Loberg and Chief Financial Officer Lawrence Bloch were stepping down.

NitroMed Chairman Jerry Karabelas will serve as interim CEO, and former Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. executive Kenneth Bate was named NitroMed’s chief financial officer and chief operating officer on a permanent basis.

Jane Kramer, a spokeswoman for NitroMed, declined to comment on the reasons for the moves but said the resignations were “a mutual decision among Drs. Bloch, Loberg and the board of directors.”

Kramer wouldn’t comment on plans to find a permanent successor for Loberg, who had been the CEO since 1997.

Shares of NitroMed rose 73 cents, or 9.3%, to $8.56; the stock traded as high as $24.45 last summer after BiDil’s approval. Since then, NitroMed’s shares have lost nearly two-thirds of their value.