The founder and former CEO of Spokane pharmaceutical manufacturing startup Selkirk Pharma Inc. claims in corporate and legal filings that he was ousted from the company’s C-suite and board of directors wrongfully.

The company has denied any wrongdoing. 

Patrick Haffey, who founded Selkirk Pharma in 2018, was its CEO until he was terminated on May 6 of last year.

Haffey has filed suit in Superior Court in Spokane County alleging wrongful termination and breach of contract. He also claims in the lawsuit that despite there being available funding options to support company operations, board members "were intentionally refusing to accept loans and other financial support to allow Selkirk Pharma Inc. to operate, with the intention of removing (Haffey) from his position as the CEO and as a board member.”

Pharmaceutical veteran Colleen Dixon was named Selkirk Pharma CEO on July 9.

Dixon and other representatives of Selkirk Pharma haven’t responded to multiple requests from the Journal via phone and email for comment.

Speaking on Haffey's behalf, Kevin Roberts, of Spokane law firm Roberts Freebourn PLLC, claims his client had Selkirk Pharma situated in a position to be successful in early 2024.

“All requirements were met to start to manufacture high-value medication,” Roberts says.

He alleges former board members breached their fiduciary duty to the corporation by ignoring funding options that would have been beneficial to the company.

Such actions caused the value of the company to drop to $75 million as of last month from more than $275 million in September 2023, Roberts says, adding that peak estimates of the company’s value were far higher.

For example, proprietary market data software subscription platform PitchBook listed the company’s valuation at over $375 million in late 2023.

In a legal response to the complaint, Selkirk Pharma has denied Haffey’s allegations of wrongdoing by the board or that Haffey has suffered damages or is owed any compensation.

The response, filed by Daniel O. Schmidt, of the Portland, Oregon-based law firm Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP, says Haffey is barred from any recovery because “any alleged actions and/or omissions by defendants were for legitimate, nondiscriminatory, nonretaliatory business reasons and were undertaken in good faith.”

The case has been assigned to Judge Rachelle E. Anderson, who has scheduled a status conference for May 9.

In addition to the wrongful termination claim, Roberts says Haffey has submitted a letter to the board called a shareholder derivative demand, which urges the current board to investigate actions of former board members who Haffey claims interfered with efforts to secure capital to keep the company operational.

The demand letter specifically alleges that former board members acted to devalue the company so it could be purchased by Coeur d’Alene-based Lakeside Cos.

Maria Lusardi, marketing director at Lakeside Cos., says the company has no comment regarding Selkirk Pharma.

Lakeside Cos. is the umbrella organization for a portfolio of Inland Northwest companies involved in advanced manufacturing, health and wellness, residential and commercial real estate development, farming, and senior and assisted living. It’s led by John Hemmingson, who recently was named the Journal’s 2025 Business Leader of the Year.

Haffey's demand letter alleges that Selkirk Pharma has been damaged by a $200 million loss in value based on breaches of fiduciary duty by former board members who placed their own interests above that of Selkirk Pharma and interfered with the business of the corporation.

Haffey demands Selkirk pursue the claims against these individuals to recover the damages the corporation has suffered, the demand letter says. The letter states that Haffey intends to file a shareholder derivative lawsuit if the board doesn’t take such action.

Although Haffey is still a substantial shareholder in Selkirk Pharma, Roberts says a shareholder derivative lawsuit would be filed on behalf of the company rather than any individual.

Selkirk Pharma is located on a 27-acre campus at 9110 W. Granite. The first of three envisioned injectable drug manufacturing plants, a 147,000-square-foot facility with a construction value of $38 million, was completed there in 2022.

The company raised $24.1 million in seed funding from undisclosed investors in September 2023, according PitchBook data. Selkirk Pharma earlier had raised more than $22 million in financing and investment between 2018 and late 2020, according to PitchBook. 

Dixon told the Journal in September that Selkirk Pharma had secured its first client, was working on securing others, and was focused on small-scale commercial manufacturing targeting higher-end products. She said the company was expecting to produce about 4 million units per year. The company had 73 employees at that time.

On Feb. 12, the company announced the launch of ClinFast, which it describes as a “paradigm-shifting service” designed to assist clinical-stage biotech and pharmaceutical companies with a rapid fill-and-finish process for clinical trial supplies.

“ClinFast represents a significant advancement in our ability to ensure biotech and pharma companies can access the high-quality drug product manufacturing they need—without the typical wait times,” the announcement says.

Multiple LinkedIn pages show that within the last few weeks, Selkirk Pharma has posted onsite job listings for senior validation engineer, site microbiologist, and associate director of manufacturing, science, and technology.

Roberts claims, however, that since terminating Haffey, Selkirk Pharma has had little, if any, sales or production.