Why Did Radius Health (RDUS) Stock Plummet Today?

 | Jul 17, 2017 12:28AM ET

Shares of Radius Health ( (NASDAQ:RDUS) ) dropped more than 7.8% in early morning trading hours Monday after the company announced that Jesper Høiland, a former top-ranking executive at Novo Nordisk (CO:NOVOb) ( (NYSE:NVO) ), has been appointed its new president and chief executive officer.
Høiland joins Radius at an integral moment for the company, which recently received approval for its once-daily, injectable osteoporosis treatment, Tymlos.
“We are pleased to welcome Jesper to Radius Health at this important time, and believe that he is uniquely qualified to lead Radius through the successful launch of TYMLOS™, and the advancement of our exciting clinical stage assets including elacestrant,” said Radius Chairman Kurt Graves.
Høiland replaces Bob Ward, who served as Radius’ CEO since 2013 and helped lead the company through its IPO in 2014. Not long after its market debut, shares of Radius reached a peak of more than $80 during the summer of 2015, but the stock has struggled to maintain momentum since then.
“I am delighted to be joining Radius in the exciting, early stages of the commercialization of TYMLOS™,” said Jesper Høiland, “and I look forward to guiding the continued development of its strong pipeline.”
The new appointment comes in the wake of Radius Health rival Amgen’s ( (NASDAQ:AMGN) ) announcement that its own osteoporosis drug did not receive FDA approval. For now, the list of approved treatments for building bone strength to fight this degenerative condition remains at just two, with Eli Lilly’s ( (NYSE:LLY) ) Forteo remaining the market leader.
For Radius investors, today’s appointment will likely lead to some short-term volatility, but a fresh face at the top of the company’s management could be the much-needed ignition source for this Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) stock.

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