Shares for KalVista Pharmaceuticals were falling after the company announced that Thomas Andrew Crockett resigned from his role as chief executive and Benjamin L. Palleiko would succeed him, effective immediately.
The stock declined 2.9%, to $13.97, in Thursday afternoon trading, and had fallen as low as $13.05 earlier in the day. Shares remain up 82% over the past 12 months.
The Cambridge, Mass.-based clinical-stage pharmaceutical company, which is focused on the development and commercialization of oral, small molecule protease inhibitors for diseases, said Crockett’s resignation wasn’t a result of any disagreement with the company.
Crockett served as CEO and a member of the company’s board since November 2016 and is credited with co-founding KalVista in 2011.
The company entered into a separation agreement with Crockett in which he will receive a lump sum payment equal to 1.5 years of his base salary, continued health care reimbursement for the same amount of time, plus a lump sum payment equal to his full target bonus for fiscal year 2024, among other benefits and payouts.
Crockett’s total compensation in fiscal 2023 was $3.6 million, including a base salary of $635,200.
Palleiko joined KalVista in 2016 as chief financial officer and is credited with being instrumental to the company’s evolution from a U.K.-based private research entity to a multinational pre-commercial organization that is preparing multiple regulatory approval filings.
The company said Thursday that it is still on track for a planned U.S. New Drug Application in the first half of the year for Konfident, the first potential oral, on-demand therapy for hereditary angioedema.