BUFFALO, N.Y., Feb. 03, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, Dr. Johnson Lau, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Athenex, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATNX), informed shareholders he received a notice of a proposed administrative fine of RMB 100,000 (approximately $14,300) from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (“CSRC”), for a matter unrelated to Athenex.
The CSRC notice was issued in connection with accounting and compliance infractions by certain senior leaders of Porton Pharma Solutions Ltd (300363.SHE) (“Porton”), a company for which Dr. Lau formerly served as an outside director from March 2016 to December 2019. The infractions, which occurred in 2018, resulted in inaccurate financial disclosures by Porton that were reviewed and approved by its board of directors. The CSRC notice includes proposed administrative fines for Porton, senior executives, as well as members of the board of directors and management team that served at the time of the infractions.
Dr. Lau did not serve on the Audit Committee of Porton, and the administrative notice does not allege any wrongdoing by Dr. Lau. In, addition, Dr. Lau’s decision to resign from the Porton board in December 2019 was amicable and unrelated to this matter.
Dr. Lau intends to request a hearing to oppose the proposed fine, a standard procedure with these matters.
Following review, Athenex’s Board of Directors remains confident in Dr. Lau’s ability to lead Athenex as Chairman and CEO in pursuit of the development and regulatory approval of novel therapies for patients with cancer.
About Athenex, Inc.
Founded in 2003, Athenex, Inc. is a global clinical stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to becoming a leader in the discovery, development and commercialization of next generation drugs for the treatment of cancer. Athenex is organized around three platforms, including an Oncology Innovation Platform, a Commercial Platform and a Global Supply Chain Platform. The Company’s current clinical pipeline is derived from four different platform technologies: (1) Orascovery, based on non-absorbed P-glycoprotein inhibitor, (2) Src kinase inhibition, (3) T-cell receptor-engineered T-cells (TCR-T), and (4) Arginine deprivation therapy. Athenex’s employees worldwide are dedicated to improving the lives of cancer patients by creating more active and tolerable treatments. Athenex has offices in Buffalo and Clarence, New York; Cranford, New Jersey; Houston, Texas; Chicago, Illinois; Hong Kong; Taipei, Taiwan; multiple locations in Chongqing, China; Manchester, UK; Guatemala City, Guatemala and Buenos Aires, Argentina. For more information, please visit http://www.athenex.com
Forward-Looking Statements
Except for historical information, all of the statements, expectations, and assumptions contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are typically identified by terms such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “foresee,” “goal,” “guidance,” “intend,” “likely,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “preliminary,” “probable,” “project,” “promising,” “seek,” “should,” “will,” “would,” and similar expressions. Actual results might differ materially from those explicit or implicit in the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include: the development stage of our primary clinical candidates and related risks involved in drug development, clinical trials, regulation, manufacturing and commercialization; our reliance on third parties for success in certain areas of Athenex’s business; our history of operating losses and need to raise additional capital to continue as a going concern; our ability to integrate CIDAL’s assets into our existing operations; competition; intellectual property risks; risks relating to doing business in China; the uncertainty of when, if at all, we will be able to resume producing API in our Chongqing plant; and the other risk factors set forth from time to time in our SEC filings, copies of which are available for free in the Investor Relations section of our website at https://ir.athenex.com/financial-information/sec-filings?c=254495&p=irol-secor upon request from our Investor Relations Department. All information provided in this release is as of the date hereof and we assume no obligation and do not intend to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law.
CONTACT
Randoll Sze
Chief Financial Officer
Email: randollsze@athenex.com
Jacqueline Li
Director, Corporate Development and Investor Relations
Email: jacquelineli@athenex.com