The termination was based on the company’s determination that it no longer required the services of Dr Karlin. Dr Karlin’s responsibilities will be assumed by Robert Jager, chief medical officer of Poniard.
The company has also said that Caroline Loewy, CFO, provided written notice of her resignation from the company to pursue another employment opportunity. Jerry McMahon, CEO and chairman of Poniard, and Ronald Martell, president and COO, will assume Ms Loewy’s responsibilities while the company conducts a search to fill the CFO position.
Poniard also announced that it will be exploring strategic alternatives for its preclinical research programs in order to allow the company to focus its resources on the clinical development of picoplatin, its lead product candidate, and to support the initial commercialization of picoplatin in the treatment of small cell lung cancer, currently targeted for 2010.
Dr McMahon said: “I would like to thank David and Caroline for their past contributions to the company and wish them well in their future endeavors. Our business fundamentals remain strong and we are focused on execution and completion of our ongoing clinical trials to generate data next year to support product commercialization and to continued development of picoplatin in the treatment of lung, colorectal and prostate cancers.”