Cingulate places CEO on leave, appoints interim leadership

KANSAS CITY - Cingulate Inc. (NASDAQ:CING), a micro-cap biopharmaceutical company with a market capitalization of $21.74 million, announced today that its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Shane J. Schaffer, has been placed on administrative leave due to ongoing legal matters unrelated to the company’s operations.

The biopharmaceutical company has appointed Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Callahan as interim CEO while she continues to maintain her CFO responsibilities. Simultaneously, board member Jay Roberts has been named Executive Chairman. According to InvestingPro data, Callahan will oversee a company that maintains more cash than debt on its balance sheet, though it faces challenges with rapid cash burn.

"Cingulate remains committed to its mission to bring CTx-1301 to patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder with its recent new drug application filing submission to the FDA in July," said Roberts in a statement released by the company.

Callahan, who joined Cingulate in 2017, brings executive leadership experience from her previous work at Deloitte’s audit practice. She holds a CPA designation and a BSBA in Accounting and Finance from Creighton University.

The company’s executive team includes Dr. Matt Brams, Co-Founder and Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Raul Silva, Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer, and Nilay Patel, Chief Legal Officer.

Cingulate, headquartered in Kansas City, focuses on developing pharmaceutical products using its proprietary PTR drug delivery platform technology. The company recently submitted a new drug application to the FDA in July for its ADHD treatment candidate.

The leadership changes are effective immediately, according to the press release statement.

In other recent news, Cingulate Inc. has submitted a New Drug Application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for CTx-1301, its lead candidate for treating Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. The company announced that it might learn if the application is accepted for review within 60 days of its submission. Furthermore, Cingulate received a PDUFA fee waiver from the FDA for this application, saving the company approximately $4.3 million. In preparation for this submission, Cingulate appointed Nilay Patel as Chief Legal Officer, bringing over 20 years of legal experience in the pharmaceutical industry.

Additionally, Cingulate expanded its equity incentive plan following stockholder approval, adding 800,000 shares to the plan, bringing the total authorized shares to 1,141,826. The decision was made during the company’s 2025 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, where other proposals, such as the election of Peter J. Werth as a Class I director and the ratification of KPMG LLP as the independent auditor, were also approved. An amendment to effect a reverse stock split of the company’s issued common stock was adopted as well. These developments mark significant steps for Cingulate as it moves forward with its strategic plans.

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