Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
What: Shares of Halozyme Therapeutics (HALO 1.36%), a biopharmaceutical company that develops human enzymes for therapeutic use, rose as much as 13% after announcing the appointment of Helen Torley as president and CEO of Halozyme after the closing bell last night.
So what: According to the press release from Halozyme, Torley will be joining Halozyme as the president and CEO as of Jan. 6, replacing Gregory Frost who is leaving to assume the head of the health sector operations for Intrexon on the same day. Dr. Frost, however, will remain on Halozyme's scientific advisory board. Dr. Torley brings with her 14 years of management experience and most recently worked at Onyx Pharmaceuticals, which was recently acquired by Amgen.
Now what: There are two factors at work pushing shares higher today. First, shareholders love clarity, and with no need for a long-winded search for a new CEO investors seem quite pleased with the announced executive transition. The other factor at play here is that Torley handled the oversight of Onyx's successful pipeline and investors have to be thinking that she may be able to do the same for Halozyme. Although Halozyme is still relatively green when it comes to its product portfolio, there's certainly plenty of collaborative potential here that bears watching by investors.
