Transparent mischief. Malfeasances. And now—a hands-down victory.
Nymox CEO Paul Averback, M.D., used all these descriptors in a March 27 release announcing an end to Bahamas litigation brought against the biotech by several former employees. The disgruntled ex-staffers argue that Nymox was not properly defending shareholder value and filed suit in a Bahamas court to call a special shareholder meeting.
Now, the Bahamas Supreme Court has ordered an end to the litigation and awarded Nymox costs incurred in defending the suit as well as damages, according to the company release.
“The malfeasances by these persons has been a costly and time-consuming distraction for our hard-working diligent management and board, and our great supportive shareholders,” CEO Averback said in the March 27 release. “Our shareholders were not fooled by the transparent mischief initiated with these attempts to take control of company properties, which these individuals did not make, develop, own, or even faintly or remotely understand on any adequate technical or business level.”
The “transparent mischief” can be tracked back to 2022, when the FDA denied approval for Nymox’s Nymozarfex—a drug designed to be administered in-office for patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia. After the regulatory refusal, Nymox’s stock sunk and was eventually delisted from the Nasdaq after dropping below the minimum $1 list price.
After that, Pennsylvania-based AscellaHealth engaged in partnership talks with Nymox. At the time, Nymox’s Chief Financial Officer Christopher Riley launched “The Committee to Restore Nymox Shareholder Value,” and pushed for the pact with AscellaHealth, with whom it was later discovered that Riley had an ongoing business association with, according to Nymox.
Nymox’s former legal counsel Randall Lanham also encouraged the deal, which would have directly awarded Riley and Lanham up to 18 million shares of common stock and future shares of the company, Nymox previously said.
According to Nymox, the terms of the deal—including manufacturing control for AscellaHealth and change of control of Nymox’s board of directors—weren’t in the best interests of shareholders.
Riley, who was fired after serving three months as CFO, also received an unauthorized and undisclosed Treasury Issuance Request for 100,000 shares of Nymox stock, according to Nymox. The action was executed by Lanham without the approval of independent board members or CEO Averback, the biotech said.
Both Riley and Lanham have argued that the AscellaHealth deal would have provided Nymox with much-needed revenue as it awaits a potential Dutch approval of Nymozarfex.
“We are delighted to continue to celebrate the departure of these individuals after they were fired last year, and the court verdict is a positive further step forward,” Averback said in today’s release. “The amounts of expenses plus damages is in process, and we will report further when we have that exact information. A hands-down victory for Nymox and for our great shareholders."
This past November, Nymox filed a lawsuit against pharmaceutical solutions provider AscellaHealth seeking $250 million in damages. The suit was filed in California Superior Court, Orange County, to protect Nymox’s shareholders’ interests, according to Nymox. The case is ongoing.