Catherine Isted has stepped down as chief executive of UK biotech ReNeuron with immediate effect, with board member and biopharma industry veteran Iain Ross appointed as executive chairman with a remit to revamp the business.
The change at the top comes as ReNeuron is in the throes of a pivot in its business after years of stuttering progress with stem cell programmes and a perennial shortage of operating cash, with the company announcing in July it would concentrate efforts on a proprietary exosome drug delivery platform.
In a short statement this morning, ReNeuron indicated that further announcements in relation to the restructuring would be made “in due course.”
It is Ross’s second stint at the helm of the biotech, having already taken on the executive chairman role, following Olav Hellebø’s resignation as CEO in February. Isted joined ReNeuron as chief financial officer in 2021, before stepping up to the top job for just a few months.
ReNeuron was founded in the late 1990s and floated in 2000, but saw slow progress with its stem cell therapies, with approval to start clinical testing arriving in 2009 after the UK cleared a trial of a stroke therapy.
The stroke programme eventually advanced into phase 2 several years later, but was delayed by COVID-19, and in the meantime ReNeuron had shifted its priority to in-licensed retinal stem cell programmes.
Those were led by a candidate that reached phase 2 testing in retinitis pigmentosa, but was dropped in January, largely because the costs of development were deemed to outweigh its potential.
The pivot to exosome technology effectively took ReNeuron’s in-house R&D back to the discovery stages, albeit with seven collaborations in place with biopharma and academic partners.
The company says the technology can be used to deliver a wide variety of payloads, including nucleic acids, proteins, and small molecules, and preclinical data has shown it can be used to administer large-molecule protein drugs to the brain.
The disruption to the business has, however, been reflected in its share price over the last few quarters, with the stock now languishing in penny share territory, well below its 52-week high of 90 pence.
Barbara Staehelin, ReNeuron’s senior independent director, said: “We would like to thank Catherine for her contribution over the past 17 months, initially as CFO and more recently as CEO, and wish her well in the future.
“We are excited about the future of the company and are very grateful to Iain for agreeing to lead the company going forward. He is an experienced industry executive who has led several successful biotech turnarounds, including more recently that of Redx Pharma and Silence Therapeutics.”
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