Upstart diagnostic firm Sequenom sacked nearly all of its entire senior leadership team today after completing a probe of its internally testing processes. Those fired include president and CEO Harry Stylli and R&D chief Elizabeth Dragon. The CFO, Paul Hawran, was able to resign gracefully.
So, it goes like this – in April, Sequenom announced that it could not rely on ANY data from its pivotal trials of its SEQureDx test used to test for Trisomy 21 (a.k.a. Down syndrome). Excuse me?
The company has said: “The company failed to put in place adequate protocols and controls for the conduct of studies in the Trisomy 21 (Down syndrome) program… Certain of the company’s employees also failed to provide adequate supervision…” In other words, mistakes were made. However, how does a company botch something this big and not have it be willful? How is it not criminal? And how can any self-respecting Board of Directors NOT pursue damages from the dismissed executives?
And sure enough, there’s a shareholder lawsuit in the making.
