Dublin, Ohio's Navidea Pharmaceuticals ($NAVB) has filed seven SEC forms this week and three in the last 24 hours alone as leadership issues and attempted proxy fights also see the biotech delay its Q1 financial update.
In its latest filings the biotech--which focuses on immunodiagnostic agents and immunotherapeutics as well as potential treatments for the Zika virus--has announced that yet another director has jumped ship, along with its accounting firm BDO USA LLP.
No official reason was given for BDO’s departure but the resignation of Gordon Troup, a former Cardinal Health exec, came with an email citing: "Recent management, operational, financial and strategic issues being unilaterally decided by the executive committee without any input, discussion nor approval of the full board,” as the reason for his leaving.
Troup, also an audit committee member who spent 8 years on the board, is now the third to resign since new members recommended by shareholders were named in March to avoid a proxy fight.
Given this, Navidea has told the SEC that it is once again delaying posting its financial results--with its Q1 update now expected on 17 May.
Navidea has appointed Michael Rice as a director and audit committee member to replace Troup. Rice, the founding partner of communications firm LifeSci Advisors, will get a $50,000 retainer, according to the SEC filing, as well as 28,000 restricted shares of the company’s common stock.
He may not however be the best man for the job for a biotech under scrutiny, as he has had a lot of unwanted attention shone on his antics at a JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco this January.
He came under pressure after paying for dozens of female models to the firm’s biotech investor event in order to “change the dynamic,” leading to a large and very public campaign against his actions. He has since apologized.
There are a lot more issues shadowing the company as well. Capital Royalty Partners II L.P., a Houston, Texas-based investment firm specializing in healthcare, is accusing Navidea of defaulting on a $60 million loan because of the "change in control" of the company amid the board shakeup.
According to Columbus Business First, Navidea has been given a temporary restraining order to stop the firm from freezing Navidea's bank accounts--something which would have kept it from paying employees.
And then there’s the issues at its subsidiary Macrophage. Earlier this year, internal investigations from Navidea revealed a “material weakness in internal controls relating to Macrophage Therapeutics” and the compliance with its parent company’s control policies by its CEO (who denied he had done anything wrong) and COO.
This forms the background to an earlier agreement to reaffirm its loan from New York City-based Platinum Management. But these changes exposed a rift between Navidea CEO Rick Gonzalez and Macrophage CEO Michael Goldberg (who worked at Platinum), who the said he would step down as Macrophage’s CEO, with its COO also leaving. Late last month, Nagel Avenue Capital’s Jed Latkin was appointed interim COO at Navidea.
The company was down 3.6% by 10 EDT this morning.
-check out Navidea’s latest SEC filings
-see CBF’s take