Shares of Sorrento Therapeutics were nearly 8% this morning after the company announced it abruptly terminated Chief Financial Officer Jiong Shao.
Sorrento disclosed the termination in an Aug. 18 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Following the ousting of Jiong Shao, San Diego-based Sorrento named Najjam Asghar as its new CFO.
In its filing, Sorrento did not provide a reason for Shao’s termination. However, the ouster comes days after the company announced it uncovered fraudulent attempts to manipulate the company’s stock. On August 11, it was reported that an organization calling itself “Hindenburg Research” published claims regarding one of Sorrento’s COVID-19 diagnostic products. The report is believed to include false and misleading statements for the sole apparent purpose of negatively manipulating the company’s stock price, Sorrento said. The company said it intends to collaborate with law enforcement and regulators to ensure that any criminal activity is investigated and rectified. Sorrento has not publicly linked Shao to Hindenburg Research. It is unknown if the two incidents are connected.
Sorrento Therapeutics said it remains focused on developing a portfolio of COVID-19 solutions that span diagnostics, prevention, early intervention and rescue therapies, including its rapid on-site detection test for SARS-CoV-2 Virus in saliva. This morning, Sorrento announced it is filing an investigational new drug application for COVI-GUARD for hospitalized COVID-19 patients. In preclinical studies, COVI-GUARD demonstrated 100% neutralizing effect of the antibody and that a low dose prevented SARS-CoV-2 from infecting healthy cells in such preclinical in vitro studies.
COVI-GUARD (STI-1499) antibody has also been evaluated in preclinical studies against multiple strains of SARS-CoV-2, including the highly contagious D614G mutant, the current dominant strain globally. In such preclinical studies, the antibody has been 100% effective against the highly contagious D614G mutant strain at a low dose, the company added.
New CFO Asghar most recently served as Sorrento’s chief accounting officer. Before he joined Sorrento in 2019, Asghar held multiple roles at NuVasive, Inc., including Leader of Accounting & Finance. He also served as senior director of accounting. Prior to NuVasive, Inc., Asghar worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Inc., holding various roles, from an associate to senior manager. At PricewaterhouseCoopers, he served various S&P 100 and S&P 500 clients in North America and Asia in the audit and assurance practice.
Asghar’s annualized salary is currently $300,000 and he is currently eligible to receive an annual performance bonus of up to 30% of his base salary for fiscal year 2020.