In a bizarre twist, Lanx Inc., an orthopedics startup in Colorado, said that former Medtronic chief operating officer Michael DeMane is no longer its CEO and chairman, less than a month after naming him to those positions.
“Michael DeMane has declined to assume the role of chairman and chief executive officer and will assist the company as a consultant,” the company said in a terse statement.
Lanx spokeswoman Kimberly Muscara declined to comment further.
As I see it, there are only two possibilities: Either DeMane just pulled a reverse Brett Favre, or Lanx jumped the gun a bit.
I vote for the latter. Here’s why:
When I first wrote about DeMane getting the Lanx job, I contacted Peter McNerney, a partner at Thomas McNerney & Partners, a Minneapolis venture capital firm DeMane has been advising. McNerney seemed surprised.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
“I know that Michael has been looking seriously at a few opportunities, including one in Colorado, but nothing has been finalized yet to my knowledge,” McNerney wrote in an e-mail.
After I sent McNerney the Lanx press release, he sent this reply:
“I think that announcement may have been a bit premature, but in any case you should check with Michael,” McNerney wrote.
You can’t blame anyone for assuming it was a done deal. At the time, Lanx sent out a press release that even included a quote from DeMane:
“Lanx has established considerable momentum based on an impressive product portfolio and pipeline,” DeMane said. Founders “Michael Fulton, Jeffrey Thramann and their team have built a company with a responsive, solutions-oriented culture, while maintaining a high level of ethics and integrity. We expect to continue our commitment to those values in our mission to build a world-class spine company over the long-term.”
Apparently, Lanx did everything except check whether DeMane actually wanted the job.
Oops.
