Mina Sooch Replaced as CEO of Ocuphire Pharma; Claims No Cause was Given
Ocuphire Pharma announced on Friday it has parted ways with Mina Sooch as CEO and President. Rick Rodgers, a board member since 2020, was appointed interim CEO and President. Ocuphire said it has retained an executive search firm to assist in identifying a permanent CEO.
Ms. Sooch co-founded Ocuphire in 2016 and served on the board since 2018.
In an interview with Eyewire+, Ms. Sooch said she was “blindsided” by the decision.
“It was a shock to everybody – myself included,” she said. “The termination was for no cause. I’m beyond disappointed. I’ve had doctors calling me all day to say they were shocked.”
Ms. Sooch, who still serves on the Board of Directors at Ocuphire, said she is considering what her next steps will be.
“I’m evaluating my options because I want to do what’s right for Ocuphire. As you know, I’ve built it and I want it to be a successful company in the future. I need to have confidence in this management team and this plan in order for me to go quietly in the night,” she said. “At the end of the day, Ocuphire is what matters and bringing value to the shareholders who invested in me and in the story, and making sure we can unlock more value and not lose momentum.”
In an 8K filing with the SEC, Ocuphire did not provide a reason for the termination, but interim CEO Mr. Rodgers told Eyewire+ the decision to remove Ms. Sooch from the CEO and President role was a board level decision and based on a shift in the company focus.
“When we signed a partnership with Viatris in November, we decided to shift our focus to APX3330, our diabetic retinopathy drug candidate. While we are still supporting (Viatris) to bring Nxyol to market for the three indications, we started to shift our focus to the DR compound,” Mr. Rodgers said. “In doing so, we are looking for a different skillset in an executive.”
In November, Viatris closed its acquisitions of Oyster Point Pharma and Famy Life Sciences to establish a new Viatris Eye Care Division. Concurrent with that deal, Famy Life Sciences announced it was acquiring Ocuphire's Nyxol eye drops for $35 million plus milestone payments. Nyxol is being evaluated for three indications: reversal of pharmacologically-induced mydriasis (RM), a once-daily for treatment of presbyopia; and dim light (night) vision disturbances (DLD). The FDA has set a PDUFA date of September 28, 2023 for the RM indication.
“It’s a transition where a founder takes a company to a certain point, and the board determines we are looking for another type of executive – not better or worse – just different,” Mr. Rodgers said. “We want to make sure the right people are in place. We want to de-risk the development plans as much as possible.”
When asked about Ms. Sooch feeling blindsided by the decision, Mr. Rodgers said he did not want to comment specifically on what she said, but stated there was “appropriate communication between the Board and the prior CEO.”
Meanwhile, Ms. Sooch disagreed with the rationale of the board.
“I’ve had multiple interactions with doctors in the diabetic retinopathy space. There are no milestones in the next two years I am not capable of executing on. The ship I built is solid,” Ms. Sooch said.
Ocuphire is in the process of holding an end-of-phase 2 meeting with the FDA to solidify the phase 3 design and path to registration for APX3330, which is an oral candidate for diabetic retinopathy
Mr. Rodgers has 20 years of experience in biopharmaceutical management. He served on the Ocuphire Board as Chair of the Audit Committee and member of the Compensation Committee since the merger with Rexahn Pharmaceuticals in 2020. From 2010 to 2013, he was co-founder, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Secretary, and Treasurer of Tesaro, a biopharmaceutical company that was acquired in December 2018 by GSK.