(Bloomberg) -- Myriad Genetics Inc. shares plunged after the DNA-testing company said its top executive would depart amid a steep drop in sales.
The company said in a news release on Thursday that Chief Executive Officer Mark C. Capone had resigned and was being replaced, effective immediately, by the company’s chief financial officer, R. Bryan Riggsbee.
The leadership change was unveiled as Myriad reported fiscal second-quarter earnings and revenue that fell well short of analyst expectations. Sales dropped 10% in the quarter, with the company’s top four molecular-testing businesses all seeing declines.
Shares fell 30% in after-hours trading on Thursday, falling to $20.60.
“As we position Myriad for its next phase of growth and creation, the board and Mark have mutually agreed that now is the right time for a leadership transition,” said John T. Henderson, Myriad’s board chairman, in a statement. Capone has also stepped down from the board, though he will remain available to help during the transition.
Myriad is best known for pioneering genetic testing for inherited forms of breast cancer caused by mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2. For years, it had a monopoly on the tests due to a controversial patent.
In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court restricted the ability of companies to patent naturally occurring human genes. That allowed numerous competitors to enter the hereditary breast-cancer testing market.
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