- Push-out Score determined
- After about two years in the position
- Praise and thanks for Ward
- Gregory Williams taking over
(exechange) — Waltham, Massachusetts, February 26, 2020 — Bob Ward, chief executive of Eloxx, leaves. As announced by Eloxx Pharmaceuticals Inc. in a news release and in a regulatory filing published on Wednesday, February 26, 2020, Robert E. (Bob) Ward, chief executive officer, leaves the clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company after about two years in the role, effective February 29, 2020.
Bob Ward’s duties as CEO will be taken over by Gregory Williams, currently Chief Operating Officer of Eloxx Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Bob Ward’s move is part of a management shake-up also involving the positions of Chief Operating Officer; Chief Business Officer; and Chief Financial Officer.
“To ensure that we are well positioned to bring potential treatments to patients in need”
A reason for Bob Ward’s departure from the CEO post was not explicitly provided. Eloxx said: “Eloxx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ELOX), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery and development of novel therapeutics to treat cystic fibrosis and other diseases caused by nonsense mutations limiting production of functional proteins, today reaffirms that it expects to report topline data from its Phase 2 cystic fibrosis clinical trial program for ELX-02 during the first half of 2020, and the Company believes that results from its preclinical and clinical research to date support this core development program. In order to ensure that we are well positioned to bring potential treatments to patients in need, the Company’s Board of Directors approved a leadership and organizational re-alignment intended to assure that the Company extend its cash runway to the end of 2021, and is sufficiently funded to complete its development efforts and reach Phase 2 proof of concept. We underscore our commitment to ensuring that we deliver value to investors and fulfill our mission to provide treatment options to patients with unmet medical needs in the most safe and expeditious manner possible.”
Precise information regarding Bob Ward’s future plans was not immediately available.
“Separate”
Eloxx said: “Robert Ward, Chief Executive Officer, and David Snow, Chief Business Officer, will each separate from the Company effective February 29, 2020.”
Share price decline
The announcement follows a decline in Eloxx Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s share price of 72% since January 2019.
In the position of CEO since 2017
Bob Ward became CEO of the Company in 2017.
Robert Ward has served as Chairman of the Company’s Board and Chief Executive Officer since December 2017.
He previously served as the Chief Executive Officer, President and member of the Board of Directors at Radius Health, Inc. from December 2013 to July 2017.
Prior to joining Radius, Ward was Vice President for Strategy and External Alliances for the New Opportunities iMed of AstraZeneca from 2011 to December 2013.
He has held a series of progressive management and executive roles with established companies such as NPS Pharmaceuticals, Schering-Plough (Merck), Pharmacia (Pfizer), Bristol-Myers Squibb and Genentech. Ward is a Director of Oncosec Medical Incorporated since November 2018 and was a Director of Akari Therapeutics, Plc. from 2016 to 2018.
Ward received a B.A. in Biology and a B.S. in Physiological Psychology, both from the University of California, Santa Barbara, an M.S. in Management from the New Jersey Institute of Technology and an M.A. in Immunology from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Push-out Score determined
The Push-out Score™ determined by exechange gauges the pressure surrounding the management change on a scale of 0 to 10.
exechange reached out to Eloxx and offered the company the opportunity to comment on the score.
Read the full story in the exechange report 9.2020 ($).