Lundbeck CEO Ulf Wiinberg is out of a job after failing to follow procedures on stock ownership.

Wiinberg accepted shares of Stratified Medical from its founder last year without permission, violating the company’s internal policies, according to Lundbeck. And it’s an “aggravating circumstance” that Lundbeck later invested about 19 million Danish kronor, equal to US$3.2 million, in the biotech, it said.

Calling the events “unintentional,” Wiinberg apologized to Lundbeck Chairman Håkan Björklund before stepping down voluntarily. Still, “this does not change the fact that Lundbeck has a clear and unmistakable Code of Conduct for all employees,” Björklund said in a statement. “We cannot operate with degrees of compliance with our code of conduct and the board of directors therefore concurs” with Wiinberg’s decision to resign.

The company is losing its leader at a time it is in the process of launching Selincro, an alcohol addiction drug, around Europe.

Lundbeck said it would begin the search for Wiinberg’s replacement “immediately.” Wiinberg is on track to receive a severance package of 19 million kronor.