Author: Jon Merz
Date: 01-04-06 13:47
Source: Int'l Herald Tribune
URL: http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/01/03/business/bxsfbc.php
Date published: January 4th 2006
from Michael Goodyear:
Top 2 officials quit drug-test company
By Kerry Dooley Young and David Evans Bloomberg News
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 4, 2006
WASHINGTON The two top officials at SFBC International, a company providing development and research services to drug companies, quit Tuesday, just before one of them was to be interviewed by Senate investigators looking into the company's management of a research center.
Shares in the company rose as much as 19 percent after SFBC said in a statement that Lisa Krinsky had resigned as president and chairman and that Jeffrey McMullen would replace Arnold Hantman, who retired as chief executive.
Krinsky was scheduled to meet with the staff of Senator Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, on Jan. 11 as part of Grassley's inquiry into drug-trial safety. No date had been set for a requested meeting with Hantman.
Grassley began his review after Bloomberg News reported in November on conflicts of interest and lax oversight in the industry.
The changes are part of an effort to regain investor confidence after officials in Miami forced SFBC to remove beds in its main trial center because of safety issues, Canadian officials investigated a tuberculosis outbreak in a Montreal drug trial and SFBC hired advisers to "explore strategic alternatives."
Grassley has also requested documents from U.S. regulators on inspections of SFBC.
Rebecca Jones Kujawa, an analyst at Stanford Group in Florida, said the changes were "enormously positive for the company.
"Mr. McMullen is an extremely competent executive," she said. "It will help with Senator's Grassley's office. It will take off some of the heat."
SFBC shares rose $2.79, or 17.4 percent, to $18.80 on the Nasdaq exchange. Before Tuesday, the shares had lost 61 percent of their value since Nov. 1, the day before Bloomberg News reported that bioethicists said the company's consent process inadequately warned trial participants of the risks of injury and death.
A phone call to Michael York of Wehner & York, listed as the media contact on SFBC's statement, was not immediately returned.
Krinsky, whom the company refers to as a medical doctor, is a graduate of Spartan Medical School on the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia and not a licensed doctor. Krinsky and the former director of legal affairs, Gerald Seifer, who is not a lawyer, share a $15 million home they purchased last year.
Seifer resigned on Dec. 19 after an investigation found that he engaged in "inappropriate" behavior with trial subjects, the company said.
Hantman, referred to in company SEC filings as a CPA, is not licensed as a certified public accountant.
SFBC's clients include Merck, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca, according to documents that were provided to participants in drug experiments.
WASHINGTON The two top officials at SFBC International, a company providing development and research services to drug companies, quit Tuesday, just before one of them was to be interviewed by Senate investigators looking into the company's management of a research center.
Shares in the company rose as much as 19 percent after SFBC said in a statement that Lisa Krinsky had resigned as president and chairman and that Jeffrey McMullen would replace Arnold Hantman, who retired as chief executive.
Krinsky was scheduled to meet with the staff of Senator Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, on Jan. 11 as part of Grassley's inquiry into drug-trial safety. No date had been set for a requested meeting with Hantman.
Grassley began his review after Bloomberg News reported in November on conflicts of interest and lax oversight in the industry.
The changes are part of an effort to regain investor confidence after officials in Miami forced SFBC to remove beds in its main trial center because of safety issues, Canadian officials investigated a tuberculosis outbreak in a Montreal drug trial and SFBC hired advisers to "explore strategic alternatives."
Grassley has also requested documents from U.S. regulators on inspections of SFBC.
Rebecca Jones Kujawa, an analyst at Stanford Group in Florida, said the changes were "enormously positive for the company.
"Mr. McMullen is an extremely competent executive," she said. "It will help with Senator's Grassley's office. It will take off some of the heat."
SFBC shares rose $2.79, or 17.4 percent, to $18.80 on the Nasdaq exchange. Before Tuesday, the shares had lost 61 percent of their value since Nov. 1, the day before Bloomberg News reported that bioethicists said the company's consent process inadequately warned trial participants of the risks of injury and death.
A phone call to Michael York of Wehner & York, listed as the media contact on SFBC's statement, was not immediately returned.
Krinsky, whom the company refers to as a medical doctor, is a graduate of Spartan Medical School on the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia and not a licensed doctor. Krinsky and the former director of legal affairs, Gerald Seifer, who is not a lawyer, share a $15 million home they purchased last year.
Seifer resigned on Dec. 19 after an investigation found that he engaged in "inappropriate" behavior with trial subjects, the company said.
Hantman, referred to in company SEC filings as a CPA, is not licensed as a certified public accountant.
SFBC's clients include Merck, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca, according to documents that were provided to participants in drug experiments.
WASHINGTON The two top officials at SFBC International, a company providing development and research services to drug companies, quit Tuesday, just before one of them was to be interviewed by Senate investigators looking into the company's management of a research center.
Shares in the company rose as much as 19 percent after SFBC said in a statement that Lisa Krinsky had resigned as president and chairman and that Jeffrey McMullen would replace Arnold Hantman, who retired as chief executive.
Krinsky was scheduled to meet with the staff of Senator Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, on Jan. 11 as part of Grassley's inquiry into drug-trial safety. No date had been set for a requested meeting with Hantman.
Grassley began his review after Bloomberg News reported in November on conflicts of interest and lax oversight in the industry.
The changes are part of an effort to regain investor confidence after officials in Miami forced SFBC to remove beds in its main trial center because of safety issues, Canadian officials investigated a tuberculosis outbreak in a Montreal drug trial and SFBC hired advisers to "explore strategic alternatives."
Grassley has also requested documents from U.S. regulators on inspections of SFBC.
Rebecca Jones Kujawa, an analyst at Stanford Group in Florida, said the changes were "enormously positive for the company.
"Mr. McMullen is an extremely competent executive," she said. "It will help with Senator's Grassley's office. It will take off some of the heat."
SFBC shares rose $2.79, or 17.4 percent, to $18.80 on the Nasdaq exchange. Before Tuesday, the shares had lost 61 percent of their value since Nov. 1, the day before Bloomberg News reported that bioethicists said the company's consent process inadequately warned trial participants of the risks of injury and death.
A phone call to Michael York of Wehner & York, listed as the media contact on SFBC's statement, was not immediately returned.
Krinsky, whom the company refers to as a medical doctor, is a graduate of Spartan Medical School on the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia and not a licensed doctor. Krinsky and the former director of legal affairs, Gerald Seifer, who is not a lawyer, share a $15 million home they purchased last year.
Seifer resigned on Dec. 19 after an investigation found that he engaged in "inappropriate" behavior with trial subjects, the company said.
Hantman, referred to in company SEC filings as a CPA, is not licensed as a certified public accountant.
SFBC's clients include Merck, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca, according to documents that were provided to participants in drug experiments.
WASHINGTON The two top officials at SFBC International, a company providing development and research services to drug companies, quit Tuesday, just before one of them was to be interviewed by Senate investigators looking into the company's management of a research center.
Shares in the company rose as much as 19 percent after SFBC said in a statement that Lisa Krinsky had resigned as president and chairman and that Jeffrey McMullen would replace Arnold Hantman, who retired as chief executive.
Krinsky was scheduled to meet with the staff of Senator Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, on Jan. 11 as part of Grassley's inquiry into drug-trial safety. No date had been set for a requested meeting with Hantman.
Grassley began his review after Bloomberg News reported in November on conflicts of interest and lax oversight in the industry.
The changes are part of an effort to regain investor confidence after officials in Miami forced SFBC to remove beds in its main trial center because of safety issues, Canadian officials investigated a tuberculosis outbreak in a Montreal drug trial and SFBC hired advisers to "explore strategic alternatives."
Grassley has also requested documents from U.S. regulators on inspections of SFBC.
Rebecca Jones Kujawa, an analyst at Stanford Group in Florida, said the changes were "enormously positive for the company.
"Mr. McMullen is an extremely competent executive," she said. "It will help with Senator's Grassley's office. It will take off some of the heat."
SFBC shares rose $2.79, or 17.4 percent, to $18.80 on the Nasdaq exchange. Before Tuesday, the shares had lost 61 percent of their value since Nov. 1, the day before Bloomberg News reported that bioethicists said the company's consent process inadequately warned trial participants of the risks of injury and death.
A phone call to Michael York of Wehner & York, listed as the media contact on SFBC's statement, was not immediately returned.
Krinsky, whom the company refers to as a medical doctor, is a graduate of Spartan Medical School on the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia and not a licensed doctor. Krinsky and the former director of legal affairs, Gerald Seifer, who is not a lawyer, share a $15 million home they purchased last year.
Seifer resigned on Dec. 19 after an investigation found that he engaged in "inappropriate" behavior with trial subjects, the company said.
Hantman, referred to in company SEC filings as a CPA, is not licensed as a certified public accountant.
SFBC's clients include Merck, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca, according to documents that were provided to participants in drug experiments.
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