BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, which cut half its work force last month in a cost-cutting move, is now losing its controller.
In a regulatory filing Tuesday, BioCryst (Nasdaq: BCRX) said controller Robert Lowrey was resigning effective Jan. 25. He also served as the firm’s principal accounting officer.
Thomas Stabb, the chief financial officer, will assume Lowrey’s duties, the company said.
In another filing, the company disclosed it was seeking to retain certain employees through its restructuring by offering stock incentives.
Chief Executive Officer Jon Stonehouse, Vice President of Drug Discovery Y.S. Babu. Chief Marketing Officer William Sheridan and Stabb received stock options and shares of restricted stock as a “retention grant.”
Other employees also received grants, the company said.
“On December 31, 2012, the Compensation Committee of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (the “Company”), in light of recent events and restructuring of the Company, approved special equity grants on January 1, 2013 consisting of stock options and shares of restricted stock to all eligible employees as a retention incentive (the “2013 Retention Grant”),” BioCryst said in the filing.
“The amount of the 2013 Retention Grant with respect to each employee was the number of stock options and shares of restricted stock granted by the Company in 2012 to a recipient at the employee’s current organization level. For all eligible employees, except for the Company’s CEO, Mr. Stonehouse, the 2013 Retention Grant shall vest at a rate of 50% per year until fully vested on the date that is two years after the grant date. The 2013 Retention Grant to Mr. Stonehouse shall vest at a rate of 25% per year until fully vested on the date that is four years after the grant date. The 2013 Retention Grant was made in addition to the annual equity grants under the Company’s stock incentive plan.”
Stonehouse received 184,000 stock options and 33,253 shares of restricted stock.
The other three executives received 50,000 stock options and 8,500 restricted shares.
The company said in December that it was cutting 38 jobs.
It disclosed in a regulatory filing that one top executive is being let go.
“David McCullough, Vice President of Strategic Planning, Commercialization and Corporate Development was informed on December 6, 2012 of his termination, which will be effective as of December 12, 2012,” the filing said.
BioCryst recently called off a proposed merger with a California firm.
In November, BioCryst also terminated a Phase 3 trial of an intravenously administered influenza treatment for which it has received nearly $235 million in federal funding.
“The restructuring is a necessary but difficult measure that impacts many talented and dedicated BioCryst employees who will be leaving the company,” Stonehouse in a statement.
The company said the decision “is intended to significantly reduce BioCryst’s cost structure and scale the organization appropriately for its current portfolio.”
BioCryst will focus on antiviral and hepatitis C programs.
“To succeed, we must significantly decrease our operating costs and carefully manage cash, while efficiently advancing our three priority programs,” Stonehouse said. “Therefore, we are implementing a substantial corporate restructuring to decrease our annual cash utilization and thereby extend our cash runway. The restructuring provides additional cash runway to reach value inflection points for these programs.”
