June 20, 2016
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Shares of Endocyte Inc. are up about 3 percent this morning after the company announced a leadership change.
Co-founder Ron Ellis, who served as president and chief executive officer, resigned his position, effective immediately, the company announced this morning. Mike Sherman, who has served as the company’s chief financial officer since 2006, has been tapped to take over for Ellis.
Ellis served at the helm of Endocyte, a company developing targeted small molecule drug conjugates and companion imaging agents for personalized therapy, since 1996. Ellis will continue on with the company in a consulting role, John Aplin, Endocyte’s chairman of the board of directors said in a statement. The company did not provide a reason for Ellis’ abrupt departure.
Aplin called Sherman the “ideal candidate” to lead Endocyte.
“His steadily expanded role as a trusted and strategic leader within the company over the last decade has established him as the natural successor to Ron. We are confident that his appointment will ensure a seamless management transition, and that he will add significant value in his new role,” Aplin said in a statement.
Sherman said he was excited to see the company continue to advance its SMDC platform, which includes lead programs EC1456, also known as vintafolide, and the Phase I experimental drug EC1169, Tubulysin, for the treatment of prostate cancer.
“The next several years will be exciting for Endocyte. I look forward to leading the company, and bringing our medicines to patients,” Sherman said in a statement.
Prior to joining Endocyte in 2006, Sherman served in various executive roles, most recently as vice president of finance and strategic planning of Guidant Corporation , a cardiovascular device manufacturer acquired by Corporation .
While helming the company, Ellis oversaw Endocyte’s 2014 $1 billion deal with Merck to develop vintafolide, an injectable SMDC for the treatment of ovarian cancer. However, the deal fell apart in June 2014 after vintafolide failed in a Phase III trial, which caused Endocyte’s stock to plunge.
Endocyte is still testing vintafolide for the treatment of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. In September 2015, Endocyte announce the combination treatment of vintafolide plus docetaxel improved overall survival by 2.7 months in NSCLC regardless of histology in a Phase IIb trial. Although at the time, Ellis said the results were promising, there have been several lung cancer drugs approved, including Opdivo, a PD-1 inhibitor, developed by Ono Pharmaceuticals and Bristol-Myers Squibb , as well as Merck’s Keytruda, also a PD-1 inhibitor.
Shares of Endocyte are trading at $3.51 this morning.
