Pharmaxis to reduce board size to four

Pharmaxis (ASX:PXS) will use the retirement of two non-executive directors to reduce the size of its board.

The pharmaceutical company announced the departure of Dr John Villiger and Richard van den Broek.

Villiger has been with the Pharmaxis board since 2006. He has had a long career in the global pharmaceutical industry and was a founder of The Medicines Company.

Van den Broek joined the board in 2009. He entered the global life sciences sector as an analyst and during his career he founded HSMR Advisors.

Pharmaxis Chairman Malcolm McComas said both former board members “have offered to continue to provide their specialist expertise and advice to the company as required”.

The vacated positions on the board will not be re-filled because the company considers that four board members is appropriate for its current size, after it cut 30% of its staff this year as part of a sweeping restructuring effort.

The decision to limit the board to four is also motivated by the company’s continuing focus on reducing costs during the transition period.

The restructure involves a change of priority for lead product candidate Bronchitol. The company had been planning to commercialise the product alone in bronchiectasis and cystic fibrosis.

But after a phase III trial in the former failed to meet its primary endpoint and the US FDA knocked back its regulatory application in the latter, the company is instead seeking separate partners to shoulder the development burden in both indications.

Pharmaxis (ASX:PXS) shares were trading unchanged at $0.13 as of around 1 pm on Thursday.