His departure, expected to be announced tomorrow, represents a partial admission of defeat to the rebel shareholders who have fought a bruisingly public battle to unseat him over the past three months. But he feels a much deeper sense of disappointment with the chequered reputation that he knows he will leave behind in the City of London.
Originally a mining entrepreneur, the Australian has spent 20 years trying to build a pharmaceutical business in London. In the 1980s he created Medeva, a stock-market star until 1993, when it was hit by manufacturing-quality concerns in California.
Skye has followed a similar path. Despite its early promise, and the acquisition and development of many good assets, it has failed to deliver on the hopes (and money) invested in it. Today it is worth £310m — Britain’s fourth- largest publicly quoted drugs group, but a fraction of the £1 billion-plus business that many think it should have become.
In his large sunlit office on Piccadilly on Friday, Gowrie- Smith readily accepted this overly familiar criticism: “I have sympathy with the frustration and exhaustion of shareholders.” He admitted he felt “a bit worn down”.
He accepts he is better at starting companies than running them, but wishes he was given more credit for his entrepreneurial input and ability to spot value.
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He pointed to Medeva. The Evans Vaccines business that he bought from Glaxo for £40m formed the core of PowderJect Pharmaceuticals which, years later, was acquired by Chiron for £542m. Medeva’s best asset — the methylphenidate treatment for hyperactive children — went on to be a substantial business for Celltech, bought by UCB of Belgium for £1.5 billion two years ago.
Even at Skye, the record is better than many recognise, Gowrie-Smith argued. It has steadily rising royalty income, 11 products approved, five medicines in the final stage of clinical trials and, in Flutiform, an asthma drug that could achieve sales measured in billions — “all from this company that’s not been managed well”.
Gowrie-Smith and Jerry Karabelas, the new chairman, argue that the rebel shareholders are misguided in their attempt to install Bob Thian as chairman. Thian, chairman of Southern Water, also heads Whatman, the filtration-paper company.
“Bob Thian is the wrong individual,” said Gowrie- Smith. “He can’t give us the right amount of time even if he gave us the best of his abilities.”
On the face of it, Thian’s pharmaceuticals experience is easily trumped by Karabelas and the chief executive and chief operating officer he recruited last week. Karabelas worked for Smith Kline Beecham for many years before becoming chief executive of Novartis Pharma.
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Frank Condella, Skye’s new chief executive, was previously European president at Ivax, a generics business sold for $7 billion (£4 billion) last year.
He and Ken Cunningham, chief operating officer, have recent experience of respiratory medicines — a key area for Skye because of Flutiform.
In contrast, Thian has not worked in the pharmaceuticals industry since 1989. Gowrie-Smith said the new team “absolutely blitz Bob Thian in terms of the credibility they bring to the challenges of SkyePharma”.
The rebel shareholders object to Karabelas on the grounds that he has been a director since 2000, and “is closely associated with the past five years of share-price underperformance”.
The battle appeared to be reaching its climax on Friday, when Karabelas and Condella flew to Zurich to make their case to Henri Meier, the former Roche finance director who has emerged as kingmaker. Meier’s HBM has built up a 9.3% stake, likely to prove decisive given Skye’s dispersed shareholder register.
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“I would be most surprised if HBM does not come out in favour (of the new management team),” said Gowrie-Smith.
He added: “I believe the share price to be artificially depressed. I am confident that SkyePharma will be a £1 billion company with its existing assets, so long as those assets are managed carefully.”