Ian Gowrie-Smith, the founder and former chairman of SkyePharma, today bowed to shareholder pressure and announced his retirement from the board of the drug developer with immediate effect.
Mr Gowrie-Smith, who 57, had been under attack from a group of shareholders who own about 14 per cent of SkyePharma, and who are unhappy with the drug developer’s underperformance.
The group had already forced Mr Gowrie-Smith to stand down as chairman.
The rebels are pressing for the appointment of Bob Thian as chairman in place of Jerry Karabelas, who has been a director of Skye for five years and was appointed chairman last week.
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Today, the board repeated its objection to Mr Thian becoming executive chairman, saying in a statement: “It is the board’s strong opinion that Mr Thian is not suited to this role as he does not have the right experience and because it will conflict with his existing taxing commitments.
“The board believes that the company should move forward under the guidance of its newly appointed non-executive chairman, chief executive officer and chief operating officer.”
On Friday, Mr Karabelas and Frank Condella, SkyePharma’s chief executive, met Henri Meier, the former Roche finance director who controls a key 9.3 per cent stake in the company through HBM Partners, his investment firm.
In his first interview since the row broke out, Mr Gowrie-Smith told The Sunday Times yesterday that the company’s new management team “absolutely blitzes Bob Thian in terms of the credibility they bring to the challenges of SkyePharma”.
He added: “I would be most surprised if HBM does not come out in favour.”
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Mr Gowrie-Smith admitted he was “worn out” by the struggle to build a successful drugs business.
He intends to concentrate on his mining interests Tiberon Minerals, Triple Plate Junction and Rift Oil. He plans to float Rift on AIM in the next few weeks, he told The Sunday Times.