Maxygen says CEO and CFO will leave Sept. 30

NEW YORK (AP) — Maxygen Inc. said Monday its CEO and chief financial officer will leave the company on Wednesday, in keeping with a collaboration with Astellas Pharma Inc.

James Sulat, a member of Maxygen's board of directors, will replace both CEO Russell Howard and CFO Larry Briscoe starting Oct. 1. Howard and Briscoe will enter consulting agreements with Maxygen.

On June 30, Maxygen and Astellas expanded a partnership by forming a joint venture to identify, research, and develop Maxygen's protein-based drug candidates for autoimmune diseases and transplant rejection. Maxygen contributed most of its drug candidates to the joint venture and will own 83 percent of it.

Maxygen is transferring most of its research and development operations to the joint venture, and it said Howard, Briscoe, and Chief Operating Officer and Chief Medical Officer Elliott Goldstein would likely leave the company.

Howard had been CEO since June 1998.

In aftermarket trading, Maxygen shares were unchanged at $6.84.