Neurocrine Biosciences Inc., developer of the experimental sleeping pill Indiplon, announced changes in executive management Sept. 19.
Kevin Gorman, one of the biotechnology company’s founders and initial investors, has been appointed chief operating officer. He was formerly executive vice president and chief business officer.
Chief Financial Officer Paul Hawran is leaving the company, and Timothy Coughlin, Neurocrine’s vice president and controller, is being promoted to CFO. Hawran will remain in his position until the first quarter of 2007 to ensure a smooth transition, the company reported.
Chief Executive Officer Gary Lyons said in a written statement that outgoing Hawran’s contributions during his 13 years at Neurocrine included helping fund the company’s research and development progress and managing a “well-controlled burn rate.”
Coughlin joined Neurocrine in 2002 from Catholic Health Initiatives, a health delivery system company, where he was vice president of financial services. Before that, he was a senior manager with the health sciences practice at Ernst & Young LLP.
Neurocrine reported this month that it had met with the Food and Drug Administration about its 5- and 10- milligram doses of Indiplon, which received an “approvable” letter from the FDA in the spring. The agency is requiring that Neurocrine conduct further tests on how Indiplon reacts with certain high-fat foods, Lyons has said.
Neurocrine plans to resubmit the two doses to the FDA by the second quarter of 2007.
The company has scheduled a similar meeting for late October to discuss the 15-milligram dose, which experts say is potentially more profitable. That dose received a “non-approvable” letter in the spring.
The company has 280 employees after two rounds of layoffs this year. Stock, which trades as NBIX on the Nasdaq, closed up 29 cents, or nearly 3 percent, at $11.01 on Sept. 19.
, Katie Weeks