2 Lidak Board Members Quit Over Management of Firm
Two Lidak Pharmaceuticals board members, including chief scientific officer Donald E. Mosier, are quitting the company over what Mosier termed were “overstatements” by the company regarding its topical herpes therapeutic product, which is now in clinical trials.
Mosier, who co-founded the Torrey Pines biotechnology company in 1988, also said in a statement that he was leaving because of his “disagreements with, and lack of confidence in” Lidak management’s ability to “lead the company out of its current problems.” Lidak was founded by chief executive and board chairman David Katz.
Also quitting is board member Eric P. Neibart, who in his resignation letter cited “disagreements with the board and management over the general direction of the company,” said Michael Lorber, Lidak’s chief financial officer. Neither Mosier nor Neibart was available for comment Wednesday.
Lorber said the company could not respond to either scientist’s charges because they were not specific. No replacements have been designated.
“The resignations are unfortunate and unexpected, but we feel the company will be able to move forward in achieving its goals in the next year,” Lorber said.
Since 1985, Mosier had also worked at the Medical Biology Institute, the Katz-founded research entity from which Lidak Pharmaceuticals licenses its technology.
Lidak Pharmaceuticals went public in May 1990, raising $5.75 million in an offering underwritten by D. H. Blair. The stock today closed at a $1.21 per share bid price in over-the-counter trading, Lorber said. The stock’s high over the past year is “around $2,” he said.
Lidak, which employs 28 at its Torrey Pines facility, signed a licensing agreement in November with a Dutch subsidiary of Yamanouchi Group of Japan, giving it European rights to the herpes treatment called Lidakol if the drug is successful.
In a statement, Katz said the company is considering a “proposed restructuring,” which is “the subject of ongoing review and consideration.”
