CytoDyn fires embattled CEO as its growing chorus of critics grows louder – Endpoints News

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Of the many biotech and pharmaceutical companies touting their foundational drugs as potential cures for Covid-19, few have earned such an ignominious reputation as CytoDyn. Facing growing criticism – and a few probes, for good measure – CytoDyn is now ditching its longtime CEO in a Hail Mary bid to rehabilitate its image.

Antonio Migliarese

CytoDyn has fired CEO Nader Pourhassan, the executive responsible for guiding the disastrous R&D effort and public relations campaign for leronlimab, an experimental drug the company has touted as a potential therapy for cancer, Covid-19 and HIV, biotech announced Wednesday.

In his place, CFO Antonio Migliarese has assumed the role of interim CEO as the company searches for a more permanent replacement.

This search will be led by three members of the company’s board of directors looking for candidates with “the required experience in the pharmaceutical industry to enhance the company’s efforts to obtain regulatory approval and commercialization of leronlimab”. , according to a press release.

With investor interest peaking at the height of the pandemic, leronlimab has already been touted as a potential “pipeline-in-a-product” for CytoDyn, with the R&D strategy sounding more like a sizzle reel than a to a real roadmap. The company outlined potential applications for leronlimab, which CytoDyn says claims to work by targeting the CCR5 receptor on T cells, as prevalent as cancer and HIV, as well as an unfortunate jaunt in Covid-19.

Scott Kelly

This latest attempt proved disastrous for CytoDyn, with leronlimab failing a mid-term test despite the company’s desperate attempts to squeeze a positive out of a negative. In fact, CytoDyn’s efforts were so transparent that they drew interest from the SEC and DOJ, which are still investigating whether the biotech was actively seeking to mislead investors about its drug’s odds.

Shares of $CYDY have been in the tank for months following all this bad press, currently sitting around 50 cents.

Along with Pourhassan’s exit, CMO Scott Kelly will step down as chairman of the board as part of an effort to “strengthen the independence of the board,” the company said.

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