Immune Response CEO Resigns

Immune Response Corp. said that Dennis Carlo resigned as chief executive, and the company, which has struggled to develop an HIV treatment, is cutting more than half the staff at its headquarters in Carlsbad, Calif.

Immune Response said it promoted its vice president for medical and scientific affairs, Ronald Moss, to president and is seeking a chief executive.

Carlo will remain on the board of the company, which was co-founded by the late Jonas Salk, developer of the polio vaccine.

Immune Response also will cut 28 of the 42 jobs at its Carlsbad headquarters. The company may add as many as five employees at its King of Prussia, Pa., site to make more Remune, an experimental vaccine that’s intended to help the body’s own immune system better fight HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Immune Response shares, which have fallen 57% this year, fell 1 cent to 56 cents on Nasdaq.