With a share price still severely depressed after the failure of its older adult RSV vaccine trial in September 2016, Novavax (NVAX) has yet to bounce back into action. An announcement was made Friday morning that the company CFO Barclay “Buck” Phillips would be stepping down to pursue an “expanded opportunity” in the healthcare industry. What that opportunity is has been left to the imagination. Though CEO Stanley Erck was voluble in his praise of Phillips, calling him “instrumental in a number of significant Novavax accomplishments,” the departure seemed likely to unsettle investors, given the pivotal stage of a number of NVAX’s vaccine candidates and ongoing concerns concerning the company’s cash position as it seeks to conclude a Phase 3 maternal RSV trial and a Phase 2 flu vaccine trial.
It was thus a welcome surprise when the negative market reaction proved to be relatively minor. Shares closed Thursday at $1.18 and closed Friday at $1.14, down less than 3.5%. Clearly, the market does not place all that much emphasis on who is managing the accounting at NVAX. The chief concern continues to be the clinical trials that will determine the future of the company.
