Robert Foster is now acting CEO of ContraVir Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CTRV]]). Foster, ContraVir’s chief scientific officer for the past two years, succeeds James Sapirstein, who had been the Edison, NJ, company’s chief executive since 2014. According to a securities filing, Sapirstein resigned as a director of the company effective Oct. 2. No reason for the resignation was given. The filing also showed that Theresa Matkovits, executive vice president for drug development, will resign effective Oct. 12. ContraVir plans to enter into separation and release agreements with both Sapirstein and Matkovits, according to the filing.
Foster came to ContraVir as part of that company’s 2016 acquisition of San Diego biotech Ciclofilin Pharmaceuticals. Foster was Cicloilin’s co-founder, chairman, and CEO, and the company brought to ContraVir an experimental heptatitis B drug. In addition to that compound, ContraVir’s pipeline has another hepatitis B drug candidate.
