Athira Pharma (NSDQ:ATHA) saw its stock jump 9.35% in mid-day trading after the company announced that its embattled CEO Leen Kawas was resigning.
Kawas will also give up her seat on the Bothell, Washington–based company’s board.
Facing allegations that she had doctored a series of images in research papers, Leen Kawas was placed on leave in June.
Several papers she co-authored at the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics received expressions of concern regarding the possibility of manipulated images.
Mark J. Litton
An internal investigation recently concluded that Kawas had doctored images in several research papers she authored or co-authored while at Washington State University. Kawas received a Ph.D. from the university in molecular pharmacology in 2011.
Mark Litton will assume the CEO mantle of Athira. Litton was the company’s former chief operating officer and has been interim CEO since June.
Although the company’s stock is trending upward, its shares lost approximately half of their value in mid-June when Athira announced it had placed Kawas on leave.
The company is also facing a smattering of shareholder rights investigations and lawsuits.