Management Change Urged For Scios

Shareholders in US company Scios are losing the benefit of significantinherent value in the company that has long gone unrecognized by the firm's current management, according to a proposal being presented to a shareholder vote in the Scios proxy statement filed with the Stock Exchange Commission, in connection with its May annual meeting.

Planning to vote in favor of urging Scios' board of directors to appoint a special committee charged with finding potential buyers is shareholder Stan Price. He feels the firm's undervalued assets can best be deployed and shareholder value restored through a change in its management.

Shares Fell As Auriculin Dropped This same notion was defeated at last year's annual meeting, but Mr Price feels shareholders will respond this time, after a $2 per share drop when the firm said it was suspending development of Auriculin (anaritide) for oliguric acute renal failure. The move followed analysis of a Phase III study of the drug, which indicated a low probability that a positive outcome could be obtained with respect to its primary clinical endpoint, dialysis-free survival.