- After 10 years in the position
- Praise for Coats
- Search for a successor
- Coats made a lengthy statement and said 252 words
(exechange) — The Woodlands, Texas, April 29, 2024 — Lonnel Coats, chief executive of Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, leaves his position. As announced by Lexicon Pharmaceuticals Inc. in a news release and in a regulatory filing published on Monday, April 29, 2024, Lonnel Coats leaves his post as chief executive officer at the biopharmaceutical company, after 10 years in the role, effective July 7, 2024.
Lexicon Pharmaceuticals will undertake a search for a successor.
No reason given
In the announcement, Lexicon Pharmaceuticals did not explicitly explain the reason for the move.
Precise information regarding Lonnel Coats’s future plans was not immediately available.
“Retirement”
Lexicon Pharmaceuticals said: “Lonnel Coats has provided notice of his retirement as chief executive officer and as a member of its board of directors, in each case effective July 7, 2024, his 10th anniversary with the company.”
Lexicon Pharmaceuticals further said: “On April 24, 2024, Lonnel Coats notified us of his retirement as our chief executive officer … and as a member of our board of directors, in each case effective July 7, 2024.”
Share price decline since April 2021
The announcement follows a decline in Lexicon Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s share price of 73% since April 2021.
In the position of CEO since 2014
Lonnel Coats became CEO of the Company in 2014.
Lonnel Coats has been the Company’s chief executive officer and a director since July 2014.
Coats previously served in a series of executive leadership positions at Eisai Inc. and Eisai Corporation of North America, where he worked for 18 years before joining the Company, most recently as chief executive officer from 2010 to 2014.
Prior to joining Eisai, Coats spent eight years with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a division of Johnson & Johnson, where he held a variety of management and sales positions.
Coats serves as a director of Blueprint Medicines Corporation and Verve Therapeutics, Inc. and holds a B.S. from Oakland University.
252 words by Lonnel Coats
In the release announcing his departure as CEO of Lexicon Pharmaceuticals Inc., Lonnel Coats received praise.
In the release announcing his departure as CEO, Lonnel Coats made a lengthy statement and said 252 words.
“Lexicon’s greatest days are ahead”
Lonnel Coats stated: “I am truly blessed to have had the opportunity to spend the last decade leading this remarkable company. I have had the privilege to work with an outstanding board which has been consistent in its support and dedication to the long view of value creation for the company. Most importantly, it’s been such an honor to work with so many dedicated and talented team members at every level of the company. They are the real heartbeat of Lexicon and I am confident there will be ‘NO LET UP!’ Lexicon has never been stronger. We have a talented commercial leadership team dedicated to accelerating access and sales of INPEFA® over the next few quarters. We are working to have an opportunity to leverage our commercial infrastructure and talent to launch sotagliflozin for people with type 1 diabetes and chronic kidney disease as early as the first quarter of 2025. We expect that a Phase 3 study of sotagliflozin in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy will be underway by mid-year, which if successful could enable sotagliflozin to be in market for that indication by late 2027. We expect to disclose topline data from our PROGRESS Phase 2b study of LX9211 for diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain by the second quarter of 2025. And our latest clinical candidate, LX9851 for obesity and weight management, is advancing toward IND-enabling studies. With our recent successful capital raise and management’s commitment to responsible and targeted capital allocation, focused execution, and openness to partnership opportunities, I am confident Lexicon’s greatest days are ahead.”
The above text is an excerpt from the exechange report 19.2024 ($), publication date May 6, 2024.