Akers Biosciences appoints chief executive after settling legal battle

Akers Biosciences appointed Howard Yeaton as chief executive on Monday as the company reached a settlement in its legal dispute with Pulse Health.

Yeaton has more than three decades of senior financial and strategic business experience, having worked with Financial Consulting Strategies, Stewardship Financial Corporation and Teco Energy, and has served as a consultant to Akers since April.

Yeaton will head the company after the departure of John Gormally, who has resigned from the AIM traded company with immediate effect after serving for three years.

Following a strategic review, the new chief executive’s first task will be to improve the market presence for its particle immuno-filtration assay products, which test for an allergic reaction to Heparin.

Meanwhile, Akers will pay $0.9m to Pulse Health as a result of a settlement agreement related to Pulse’s lawsuit in which alleged a breach of a previous settlement agreement that had been entered into on 8 April 2011.

Under the new deal, the company will not make, use, sell or offer to sell the BreathScan OxiChek, or any product that detected aldehydes or oxidative stress in exhaled human breath or breath condensate using either basic fuchsin or sodium metabisulfite or any form.

Akers added that it does not expect to see a material impact on revenues as a result of withdrawing the product from sale.

Akers Biosciences’ shares were down 8.89% at 20.50p at 1620 BST.