Struggles intensify for Louisville biotech GlobeImmune

LOUISVILLE — The struggles for GlobeImmune Inc. continue as the biotech announced a series of events Thursday that include the resignation of its CEO and key board members, and the termination of the lease on its 40,000-square-foot headquarters building at 1450 Infinite Drive in Louisville that had office, laboratory and manufacturing space.

The company said Thursday it does not plan to publicly release any further information about its operations or business, leaving it unclear if GlobeImmune will be dissolved, acquired or if operations will be suspended. The company had been looking for “strategic alternatives.”

GlobeImmune said Timothy C. Rodell has resigned as chief executive and president, but he will remain on the five-member board of directors. The other four board members — William Freytag, Augustine J. Lawlor, Dan J. Mitchell and S. Edward Torres — have resigned.

Jeffery Dekker, the company’s vice president of finance, was appointed as the company’s president, secretary and treasurer and has been added to the board of directors.

The company also said Gilead Sciences Inc. has terminated a collaboration and license agreement with GlobeImmune for GS-4774, a drug being developed to fight hepatitis B. Gilead returned rights to the drug to GlobeImmune, which did not provide information as to what, if any, further development of the drug might occur.

In July, GlobeImmune was delisted from the Nasdaq stock exchange, terminating its reporting obligations to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company’s stock is now being traded over the counter. It was trading at 47 cents per share mid-day Friday.

The company is no longer required to file annual, periodic and current reports with the SEC or release any other information. Last year, GlobeImmune’s drug for hepatitis B failed a mid-stage test when it didn’t hit its primary endpoints, causing the biotech’s share price to be cut in half, and the bulk of its workforce to be laid off, leaving two and one-half full-time employees.

GlobeImmune’s pipeline does have preclinical treatments for tuberculosis, HIV and delta virus, plus a handful of mid-stage oncology treatments partnered with Celgene from a 2009 deal. In August, Celgene and GlobeImmune struck a new deal in which Celgene licensed GI-6207, a Phase 2 treatment for thyroid cancer, for $1.9 million up front and the promise of regulatory and sales milestones down the road.

In its first quarter results announced in May, GlobeImmune said it had cash and equivalents of $8.7 million, but believed it was enough to “operate the company as a going concern through the middle of 2017 as it continues to evaluate strategic alternatives.”

It had said however that, should a strategic alternative not be found, “we could decide to wind down the operations of the company which will consume cash faster than currently planned as a going concern.”

on Facebook on LinkedIn