Exscientia founder and CEO Andrew Hopkins is out of a job after an investigation found the CEO engaged in relationships with two employees, the artificial intelligence drug discovery company announced Tuesday.
The termination is for cause and effective immediately. In a regulatory filing, Oxford, U.K.-based Exscientia said this decision follows an investigation that found the relationships were “inappropriate and inconsistent with the Company’s standards and values.” No other details were provided about the employees or the relationships, but the filing does not indicate any financial impropriety.
“Dr. Hopkins’ conduct did not impact the Company’s consolidated financial statements or its internal controls over financial reporting, and his termination is unrelated to the Company’s operational or financial performance,” Exscientia said in the filing. “The Company remains committed to advancing its internal oncology pipeline and broad partnership portfolio through AI-based drug design and laboratory technologies.”
Exscientia said the board of directors is searching for a successor to Hopkins. In the meantime, Chief Science Officer Dave Hallet has been appointed interim CEO and interim principal executive officer, effective immediately. Hallet will also serve as an executive director on the Exscientia board.
According to Hopkins’ employment agreement signed when Exscientia went public in 2021, he must disclose to the board “full details of any wrongdoing by the Executive or any other employee of any Group Company where that wrongdoing is material to that employee’s employment by the relevant company or to the interests or reputation of any Group Company.” The agreement goes on to state that grounds for termination include being “guilty of any gross misconduct or behavior which tends to bring himself or the Company or any Group Company into disrepute.”
If the company terminates employment for cause, Hopkins is not entitled to any payment, nor can he make any claim against the company for damages stemming from the termination, the document states.
The fallout extends beyond Hopkins. A special committee of the board engaged outside counsel to investigate the executive’s alleged conduct. The inquiry found that David Nicholson, board chairman, had prior knowledge of the existence of the earlier of Hopkins’ relationships and addressed the matter—but with outside counsel rather than in consultation with the board. The filing states that after discussions with other board members, Nicholson resigned from his board positions on Monday.
A search for Nicholson’s replacement is underway. In the meantime, Elizabeth Crain, a non-executive director, was appointed Nicholson’s interim replacement.
Exscientia was founded in 2012 by Hopkins, who had previously spent nearly a decade at Pfizer and five years in academia. The company initially struck up partnerships in which it used its AI technology platform to discover drugs for pharmaceutical companies. Partners include Apeiron and Bristol Myers Squibb.
The IPO was part of a strategy to expand the application of the AI platform to the R&D of Exscientia’s own drugs. The company had reached early-stage clinical development with an internally discovered cancer therapy, but stopped work on that program last fall after peer data and internal research indicated challenges for safely and effectively drugging the intended target. With the discontinuation of this cancer drug, Exscientia’s most advanced wholly owned program is a molecule in preclinical development.
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