Dr Ira

An auditor friend likes to describe his role as akin to those who roam the battlefield after the battle and bayonet the wounded. In this spirit it might now be time to review the appointment, remuneration and contribution of Dr Ira Shoulson.
When appointed to the board on 13/05/2014 Ira was identified as an expert who had been a consultant to and member of several FDA advisory committees and had been involved in eight successful new drug applications to the FDA.
From the timing of this appointment (3 months after the Reach2HD results) It would be a fair assumption that Prana was already aware that the FDA might have an issue with the dog trials that were run in parallel with the HD trial, with this in mind Prana needed an expert in the workings of the FDA and IRA would have appeared to be the ideal person.
Since his appointment the good Dr has received up until 30 June 2016 a total of $A582747 in non-executive director and consultancy fees from Prana shareholders. That would have been money well spent if the results had been positive.
In my opinion it would be fair to assume that Prana have relied heavily on Ira’s advice and experience concerning the PCH and how best to resolve it to the FDA’s satisfaction.
Whatever advice Ira offered and whether it was followed or not is irrelevant as Prana has failed badly in its efforts to navigate the rocky waters of the FDA and get the PCH lifted, it has wasted the 2½ years since the Reach2HD results and we are now in a far worse position than we would have been if we had pursued a trial via the EMA.
It is difficult to see what value Dr Shoulson can continue to bring to Prana’s future efforts and as such I think his tenure as a director and consultant should be terminate in order to save funds and possibly assist in better strategic decisions being formulated. Perhaps we now need a EMA expert!
All of this is just my opinion.
PJ