Passage Bio said its President and CEO Bruce Goldsmith is stepping down and will serve as a strategic advisor for a transition period.
Photo: Outgoing Passage Bio President and CEO Bruce Goldsmith
The company named its General Counsel and corporate secretary Edgar Cale as interim CEO. The company. Maxine Gowen, the company’s chairwoman, has assumed the role of interim executive chairwoman of the board. The board has initiated a search for a permanent CEO.
In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said Goldsmith’s departure was the result of a mutual decision between Goldsmith and the board and it did not involve
Mr. Cale has been at Passage Bio since September 2019. Prior to joining the company, Mr. Cale spent more than twenty years at GlaxoSmithkline, most recently as Senior Vice President of Legal Corporate Functions, which included legal support for global business development and corporate functions. At GSK, he also served as General Counsel of GSK’s Vaccine division. Mr. Cale has a BA in Biology from the University of Pennsylvania, and a JD from University of California at Berkeley.
Passage Bio launched three years ago and is closely aligned with Jim Wilson’s Gene Therapy Program (GTP) at the University of Pennsylvania. In March, the company announced it was decreasing operating expenses by reducing its workforce by approximately 13 percent and prioritizing its research and development programs in partnership with the UPenn GTP.
Since raising $216 million in an IPO two years ago, Passage Bio’s share price has been decimated, down 86 percent, as investor sentiment for the risk inherent in biotech continues to sour. The company at the time also saw the departure of its head of research and development Eliseo Salinas.
The company at that time said it would focus on advancing its three lead clinical programs for GM1 gangliosidosis, Krabbe disease, and frontotemporal dementia. The plan would extend its cash runway into the second quarter of 2024.
Author: Rare Daily Staff
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