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Can Al Mann Save MannKind One More Time?

Billionaire Al Mann, at age 90, has stepped in as interim chief executive at his namesake company, MannKind Corp., after the resignation this month of Hakan Edstrom. The Valencia biotech released a brief statement Nov. 20 stating Edstrom had left as chief executive and a member of the board. No explanation for his departure was given. A board committee will commence a search for a successor chief executive, the statement said. Mann invested hundreds of millions of dollars and more than a decade into developing inhalable insulin Afrezza, the only commercial product from MannKind, which went on sale in February. Keith Markey, a research analyst with Griffin Securities in New York and an investor in MannKind, said that he has spoken with company management who told him that Edstrom’s leaving had been expected but occurred earlier than originally thought. “They had already started a search prior to the resignation,” Markey said, adding that he didn’t think Mann would hold the interim chief executive position for long. Edstrom’s exit comes at a time when MannKind is struggling financially with disappointing sales. The company’s stock has lost more than 50 percent of its value this year and its marketing partner, Paris’ Sanofi SA, has sold only $17.1 million worth of the drug since its release. Earlier this year, some analysts estimated it could sell $1 billion annually. In a research note earlier this month, Markey wrote that while sales of Afrezza have turned in a “less than spectacular performance,” it was unlikely that Sanofi would back out of its distribution deal. Sanofi will face competition next year from biosimilars, products interchangeable with its Lantus insulin treatment, Markey said. He added that Sanofi’s diabetes drug, Toujeo, will not be able to hold down the firm’s diabetes franchise from other drug makers. “Afrezza has the potential to replace Lantus as the top drug in their portfolio,” he added. Edstrom has worked for Mann since 2001, when he was hired to help take three companies public. He was named chief executive of MannKind in January after a number of years as chief operating officer. He previously served as an executive at Bausch & Lomb Inc. and Pharmacia Corp. In an April interview with the Business Journal, Edstrom said that with Afrezza on the market the company was pursuing two paths, one in making the drug at a state-of-the-art facility in Connecticut and the other in finding additional uses for the underlying chemical used to make Afrezza. “We are looking to use it in a number of other areas: hypertension, pain management and cancer, where we apply this same technology to different drugs,” Edstrom said in the interview.

Mark Madler
Mark Madler
Mark R. Madler covers aviation & aerospace, manufacturing, technology, automotive & transportation, media & entertainment and the Antelope Valley. He joined the company in February 2006. Madler previously worked as a reporter for the Burbank Leader. Before that, he was a reporter for the City News Bureau of Chicago and several daily newspapers in the suburban Chicago area. He has a bachelor’s of science degree in journalism from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

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