PYC Therapeutics reappoints Rohan Hockings as managing director less than a week after he quit

PYC Therapeutics’ reappointed chief Rohan Hockings has assured nervous investors a new-look board is now “very aligned” on the company’s direction following his shock return less than a week after he abruptly quit. The biotech’s 77-year-old chair and WA Rich Lister Alan Tribe took the reins as managing director last Wednesday after it was revealed Dr Hockings had given his two months notice, with no explanation offered for his mysterious exit. But PYC emerged from a trading halt on Monday to announce Dr Hockings — first appointed as chief executive in April 2018 — has resumed management of the company’s operations from Mr Tribe, who remains chair of the company. Along with Dr Hockings’ return, PYC also revealed it had lost half of its board members with the resignation of US-based Michael Rosenblatt and Jason Haddock as directors. It has appointed Lions Eye Institute founder Ian Constable as a non-executive director. It’s understood some members of PYC’s board had differing views on how the company should move forward. Speaking to The West Australian on Monday, Dr Hockings said the board changes meant it now had a “group of people who can navigate the best path” to delivering returns to shareholders. “(At) board level now, we have got the alignment that we’re looking for,” he said. PYC is developing four RNA-based drugs to treat rare genetic diseases, including retinitis pigmentosa — which is a degenerative eye disease considered to be the leading cause of childhood blindness — as well as polycystic kidney disease. It is also developing a drug for Phelan-McDermid syndrome, a severe neurodevelopmental disorder that affects development, speech and behaviour. Dr Hockings said all four drugs were progressing, with a near-term focus on selling the retinitis pigmentosa program to an industry partner. But the primary focus, he said, was the multiple-dose data expected for polycystic kidney disease throughout 2026 and into mid-2027. “If you throw into the mix commercialisation opportunities that are coming in . . . there’s just a lot going on and these are matters on which sensible minds can differ in relation to what’s the optimal path forward,” Dr Hockings said. “That bit I think is fine (but) it . . . is a matter that should have played out in the private domain, rather than the public realm.” PYC thanked Dr Rosenblatt and Mr Haddock for their contributions to the company over the past four years and overseeing its progression into a clinical-stage biotech firm. The announcement of his imminent exit last Wednesday triggered a 30 per cent slide in PYC’s shares to 85¢. They had recovered to 90¢ before entering a trading halt on Friday. Shares shot up 116.2 per cent to close $1.04 on Monday. Dr Hockings conceded it needed to do a better job at getting the value of the four drugs reflected in PYC’s market capitalisation, currently at about $606 million. “To move four assets into late-stage clinical studies, which is the proposition that we’re looking at over the course of the next 24 months, is an expensive undertaking,” he said. “In order to do that, you can’t have an enterprise valuation of $US300m.” PYC commenced human trials for its drug for polycystic kidney disease in early 2025. In its annual report released last month, PYC said it had started dosing the drug in patients with the disease, after it had progressed through trials in healthy volunteers. “Interest in this program from both external clinicians and industry participants is high,” Mr Tribe, who is also the former owner of the Ikea franchises in WA and SA, said in the annual report. “This drug has the potential to impact the lives of a large patient population and represents a significant commercial opportunity.” Polycystic kidney disease is characterised by multiple cysts forming throughout a patient’s kidney that increase in size over time. The growth of cysts destroys the function of the kidney, eventually leading to end-stage renal failure and the need for organ transplant in the majority of patients by the age of 55. About 95 per cent of patients with polycystic kidney disease currently have no treatment options available to them. PYC on Monday told investors it would continue to build out both its board and executive management team over coming months as it progresses its pipeline of drug candidates into late-stage clinical development. Dr Hockings’ pay packet will stay the same, at $395,000 a year with a bonus of up to $198,000.