THE founder of drug development company Scotia Holdings has resigned as a non-executive director following a series of board meetings in which he failed to unseat his replacement as chief executive.
The resignation of David
Horrobin, who established the Stirling-based company's
Canadian precursor in 1977, took effect yesterday.
It came at the request of other board members who disagreed with Horrobin's view that chief executive Robert Dow should be removed from his post.
Formerly the world-wide director of drug development for international pharmaceutical company Hoffman-La Roche, Dow joined the board of Scotia on September 1 as medical and development director.
He replaced Horrobin as chief executive on January 1 in what was described by both men as a ''win-win situation,'' with
Horrobin voting in favour of Dow's appointment. Since that time, Dow has dropped many of Scotia's development projects in favour of focusing on six key products, including the company's
Olibra hunger-suppressing agent and its Foscan treatment for patients with head and neck cancer.
Scotia chairman James
McKinnon said although
Horrobin had voted for Dow to become chief executive, the founder had ''revised his opinion since then''. The situation became untenable when Horrobin began agitating for Dow's removal several weeks ago.
''Doctor Horrobin took the minority view that Dr Dow was not the man to carry the company forward,'' McKinnon said. ''Under these circumstances, you can't have a non-executive director seeking to depose a chief executive and then remaining a non-executive on the board.''
Dow's performance to date has won favour among sector analysts frustrated by the company's unfocused approach. Under Horrobin's leadership, Scotia had reportedly lost a lot of its following in the City.
When Dow stepped up to take control of the company, it was decided that Horrobin would take Scotia's technology for treating schizophrenia and asthma and use it to set up a new business.
It was also decided that his wife, Sherri Clarkson, would step down as managing director of Scotia's drug discovery division on June 30 to join her husband in a new venture.
McKinnon said Horrobin's resignation did not affect the terms of that agreement, under which
Scotia will license out its technology in exchange for #1m up front and additional royalty payments based on the new company's
commercial success.
Neither does it affect Clarkson's June 30 departure date.
The stock finished yesterday's trading 1p higher at 387.5p.
Suits and eggheads Page 20
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