PharmaPrint CEO Resigns After 7 Months

Struggling PharmaPrint Inc., the Irvine herbal supplements maker that lost its only major customer last fall, said Thursday that C. Richard Piazza is resigning as chairman and chief executive after only seven months at the company.

PharmaPrint said in a press release that Piazza, whose resignation is effective today, will act as a consultant to the company, managing day-to-day operations, during a transition period.

The board of directors intends to appoint an interim chief executive as soon as possible and immediately begin a search to find a permanent replacement, according to the release.

Piazza joined PharmaPrint as president and chief executive Oct. 1 and was named chairman at the end of November.

His efforts were aimed at turning around a company that had lost $45 million over its previous four fiscal years, which end on March 31.

At the time he arrived, the company had high hopes for a patent application and had posted annual revenue for the first time. It generated $22.3 million in sales for fiscal 1999 as the exclusive manufacturer of Centrum Herbals, a line of natural vitamins, for American Home Products Corp.

But before Piazza took over, American Home had cut future orders, and after he came in, it gave formal notice that it would terminate the supply contract in a year. The companies are suing each other.

PharmaPrint has since cut jobs, reduced overhead and tried to refocus its operations. But the red ink continues to flow: It lost $17.3 million in the first nine months of its latest fiscal year on revenue of $6.5 million. It has not yet reported annual results for the year ended March 31.

The company also has fought to remain listed on Nasdaq’s national market, which threatened to remove the stock last fall. Earlier this week, the company said its stock would move down to Nasdaq’s small-cap market.

The stock lost 19 cents Thursday to close at 88 cents a share.