- March 22, 2018
- Posted by: PharmaScroll
- Category:
Alder Biopharmaceuticals (ALDR) stocks plunged on Wednesday, 21st March 2018, by over 15%, which was also its 3 months low since late December 2017. The stocks fell primarily because of the exit of its Chief Executive Officer and the Co-Founder Randall Schatzman, months before the filing of a very important drug named eptinezumab in Migraine.
Alder on Tuesday, March 20th 2018, had announced that Paul B. Cleveland, a member of the Company’s Board of Directors, has been appointed to serve as Interim President and Chief Executive Officer of the firm, effective immediately after the stepping down of Dr. Schatzman as President, Chief Executive Officer and as a director of the company based on a “mutual determination” between the Board and Dr Schatzman.
Though the removal of Dr Schatzman came as a surprise to the outside world, the analysts are speculating that the move might well have been planned since long but given the importance of pending pivotal data for eptinezumab, the move would have been kept under wraps.
“It has been an honor to lead Alder since co-founding the Company in 2004 and work with such a bright and passionate group of employees to change the lives of highly impacted episodic and chronic migraine patients. I am proud of all that we have accomplished at Alder during my tenure including the development of two late-stage therapeutic candidates, eptinezumab and clazakizumab, assembling a talented team of over 190 employees, the majority of which are scientists and drug developers, and positioning Alder to positively impact the lives of migraine sufferers. Now is the right time to pass the baton to the next generation of leadership. I am confident that Alder is well-placed to set a new standard for what can be achieved in migraine prevention to benefit patients and their families.” Dr. Schatzman was quoted as stating in Alder’s press release.
According to the firm, Mr. Cleveland has more than two decades of leadership experience with significant operational and financial expertise. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of Adverum Biotechnologies, Inc., where he previously served as the President and Chief Executive Officer. Prior to that, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of Celladon Corporation, where he previously served as that company’s Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Cleveland served as Executive Vice President, Corporate Strategy and Chief Financial Officer at Aragon Pharmaceuticals before its acquisition by Johnson & Johnson, and prior to Aragon, he was General Partner and Chief Operating Officer at Mohr Davidow Ventures and Executive Vice President, Corporate Development and Chief Financial Officer for Affymax. Mr. Cleveland was previously a Managing Director at J.P. Morgan Chase and Co. and a predecessor firm, Hambrecht & Quist, and a corporate lawyer at Cooley LLP, Sidley Austin LLP, and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP.
“I joined the Alder Board in 2015 because of my deep appreciation of Alder’s mission to transform the treatment paradigm for migraine prevention,” said Mr. Cleveland. “I look forward to leveraging my prior CEO and CFO experience in this interim role as we work to identify a permanent successor and further build out the team for the next stage of Alder’s growth and development. On behalf of the Board and the Alder team, I want to thank Randy for his immense dedication and invaluable contributions since co-founding the Company in 2004. Randy’s leadership has positioned Alder for continued growth as we advance towards the commercial launch of eptinezumab.”
In Pharmascroll’s view, the removal of the existing CEO might well have been an outcome of the fact that Alder has somehow lagged in the anti-CGRP race in Migraine including the firms Amgen, Novartis, Teva, Eli Lilly and Alder. Rest of the firms are well ahead of Alder in terms of expected approval and launch of their anti-CGRP molecule in the market. However, it needs to be seen if the exit of Dr. Schatzman from Alder has any impact leading to further delay in the launch of eptinezumab.
About Pharmascroll:
Pharmascroll is a diligent business consulting and market research firm focused solely towards pharmaceutical markets. The company consults and researches in majorly chronic disease indications prevalent across the globe. The research conducted by Pharmascroll analysts is targeted to provide analytical and logical answers to the key business questions of the pharmaceutical and medical insights teams and to make better informed business decisions with the detailed relevant information available.
To read more about Migraine, visit https://pharmascroll.com/blog/
Image Source: http://amehnews.com/stocks-fall-after-six-day-rally/