Medford Biotech CEO Gets 7 Years In Prison For Defrauding Investors

The chief executive officer of a Boston-area biotech company who said it had developed a painkiller that would replace opioids has been sentenced to seven years in prison for defrauding investors of about $7.5 million.

Frank Reynolds, 57, the CEO of PixarBio Corp., was also ordered Tuesday to repay his investors the full amount, forfeit $280,000, and spend three years on probation, according to federal prosecutors.

The Newton man was convicted by a jury in October of securities fraud and obstructing an agency proceeding.

Prosecutors said he defrauded Medford-based PixarBio investors through manipulative trading of the company's shares and false and misleading statements.

Reynolds told investors that PixarBio's drug, NeuroRelease, would end "thousands of years of morphine and opiate addiction" when in fact it would not, authorities said.

The drug was simply an existing drug for which PixarBio claimed to have developed an additional means of delivery in a time-release form for post-operative pain, authorities said.

Reynolds also claimed he had cured his own paralysis, but in fact had never been paralyzed, prosecutors said.