SAN DIEGO (AP) – Optimer Pharmaceuticals Inc. said it hired Stephen Webster as its new chief financial officer.
Webster was CFO of drugmaker Adolor Corp. from 2008 until Adolor was acquired by Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. in December.
Optimer removed its chairman and fired its CFO and another executive in April. The company said then-chairman Michael Chang failed to manage compliance and conflict -of(equals)interest issues after he was awarded stock by one of the company’s subsidiaries. CFO John Prunty and a company vice president were fired because they did not follow proper procedures when they found out about those issues.
Chang was also a board member of Optimer Biotechnology, a Taiwanese company in which Optimer Pharmaceuticals holds a 43 percent stake. The problems arose after Optimer Biotechnology granted Chang 1.5 million of its shares.
Optimer makes Dificid, a treatment for Clostridium difficile infection. The infection can cause symptoms ranging from diarrhea to potentially life-threatening inflammation of the colon. Cubist Pharmaceuticals, the company that bought Webster’s former employer Adolor, helps Optimer market Dificid in the U.S.
Date: June 5, 2012
Source: Associated Press
