Akers Biosciences Inc. carried out a review of its business activities and appointed Howard Yeaton as its CEO, effective immediately.
The Thorofare, N.J.-based medical device-maker said Yeaton has 30 years of senior financial and strategic business experience and has served as a consultant to Akers since April. Yeaton, also Akers' interim CFO, has been the managing principal of Financial Consulting Strategies LLC since 2003 and interim CFO of Propel Media Inc. since 2014.
Akers said Yeaton replaces John Gormally, who resigned both as CEO and board member, effective immediately.
After a review of its commercial and product development strategies, Akers plans to focus primarily on the commercialization of its particle immuno-filtration assay, or PIFA, technology platform to detect target antigens or antibodies.
The technology is used in Akers' PIFA Heparin/PF4 and PIFA Pluss/PF4 rapid assays, which test for an allergic reaction to Heparin — a medication used to prevent the formation of blood clots in the vessels — and account for a majority of its current revenues.
In addition, Akers said it will pay Pulse Health, LLC $930,000 to settle a breach of contract lawsuit and also agreed not to develop or sell its BreathScan OxiChek and BreathScan Lync devices or any equivalent product that tests for aldehydes or oxidative stress in human breath.
Akers said the withdrawal of BreathScan OxiChek is not expected to have a material impact on its revenue.
Separately, the company said finnCap Ltd., its nominated adviser on the London Stock Exchange's AIM market, gave a three-month notice of its resignation but warned that it would resign immediately if Akers' board does not attend an AIM Rules briefing hosted by the British stockbroker Oct. 12.
Akers' shares will be suspended from trading if finnCap resigns or if the company fails to appoint a replacement in due time. Akers said it is working with finnCap to make it to the briefing.
Akers had requested the AIM in July to suspend its shares from trading as it was unable to publish a revised annual report for 2017. At the time, the company, also listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market, said it planned to make adjustments to its financial statements for 2017 after its accounting firm said they should not be relied upon.