Here, this should save you your 20-30 minutes.
Critical Therapeutics Announces Changes to Management Team and Board of Directors
LEXINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 26, 2006--Critical Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: CRTX) today announced that Paul D. Rubin, M.D. has stepped down from his position as President, Chief Executive Officer and director effective today. The Company's Board of Directors has appointed Robert Zeiger to serve as Executive Chairman of Critical Therapeutics. As Executive Chairman, Zeiger will serve as Chairman of the Board of Directors. Zeiger has served as Lead Independent Director of Critical Therapeutics' Board of Directors since February 2005. Frank E. Thomas has been promoted to President of Critical Therapeutics and appointed to the Company's Board of Directors. Jeffrey Young has been promoted to Vice President of Finance and Treasurer. Young was previously Senior Director of Finance of the Company.
"On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to thank Paul for his instrumental role as the inaugural Chief Executive Officer of Critical Therapeutics," Zeiger said. "Under Paul, the Company completed its initial public offering, commercialized its first drug, ZYFLO(R) (zileuton tablets), and expanded its development pipeline.
"The decisions announced today, together with the recently completed cost cutting efforts, are important steps in focusing the Company on its most valuable assets," continued Zeiger. "We will continue to execute a strategy centered on the approval and successful launch of the controlled-release formulation of zileuton and advancing our other key research and development programs."
As President, Thomas will have operating responsibility for all areas of the Company. Zeiger will work closely with Thomas and the other members of the management team to implement the Company's strategy and strengthen the commercial organization.
"Frank brings solid business experience to his new role and has done an exceptional job in maintaining the financial health of the Company leading up to and through the launch of ZYFLO," said Zeiger. "We are confident in the ability of the management team to successfully execute a strategy that will deliver the greatest value."
"I am excited about the opportunity to lead the Company into its next phase of development with our talented group of managers and employees," said Thomas. "We are committed to aggressively advancing our most promising programs to appropriately capture their current and future value, thereby providing long-term benefit to our stakeholders.
"Having completed the development and manufacturing requirements for the controlled-release (CR) formulation of zileuton, we expect to submit the new drug application for zileuton CR in August. Other key milestones next quarter include receiving top line data from each of our Phase II clinical trials involving the intravenous formulation of zileuton and CTI-01," said Thomas. "The data from these trials should provide us with additional information to evaluate the future development path of these and other programs in our pipeline."
In May 2006, the Company announced a cost reduction plan to better align its existing cost structure with current sales trends for ZYFLO. These steps have been completed and, as a result, the Company expects to reduce costs by at least $15 million in 2006 from previous guidance, excluding any restructuring and severance charges. As a result of the cost cutting actions, coupled with continued growth in ZYFLO sales, the Company anticipates ending the second quarter of 2006 with between $51 million and $53 million in cash. Net cash expenditures in the second quarter of 2006 are expected to be slightly lower than the current operating guidance of $13 million to $16 million, demonstrating the Company's progress in reducing expenses and extending financial resources.
Conference Call Information
Critical Therapeutics will hold a conference call to discuss the changes to the management team and Board of Directors. Investors and other interested parties can access the call as follows:
Date: Monday, June 26, 2006
Time: 11:30 a.m. ET
Dial-in: (800) 406-5356 (U.S. and Canada)
(913) 981-5572 (International)
Passcode: 9978476
Webcast Information:
www.crtx.com
A live and archived audio webcast of the conference call also will be available on the "Investors" section of the Critical Therapeutics website. From the home page, click on "Investors" and then on "Webcasts & Presentations."