LipoScience (NASDAQ:LPDX) CEO Richard Brajer is no longer the top executive for the medical diagnostics company and has been replaced by board member Robert Greczyn.
In a statement, the company said that Brajer is stepping down “to pursue other interests.” Greczyn, former CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield North Carolina, joined LipoScience’s board in 2011. The company said that the board of directors plans to start a search for a permanent CEO immediately.
“It has been an honor to build LipoScience and lead this great company for 10 years,” Brajer said in a statement. “Given my interests, the Board and I mutually decided it is the right time for a transition.”
Brajer led LipoScience through the development and regulatory approval of its diagnostic technology, based on research originally developed at and licensed from N.C. State University. LipoScience has developed and commercialized a blood test for cardiovascular disease. The test uses nuclear magnetic resonance, or NMR, to measure the density of lipoproteins in a sample. The company says NMR offers a better test for cardiovascular disease than standard cholesterol tests, which the company aims to displace. Although LipoScience has other diagnostics in development, the NMR LipoProfile is the company’s only Food and Drug Administration-cleared diagnostic.
Brajer steered LipoScience to an initial public stock offering in January. But even though LipoScience has successfully navigated its technology through the necessary regulatory approvals it has had stumbled in building sales this year for the product. First quarter sales declined year over year, a result that the company attributed in part to the inability to get the needed sales representatives up and running.
LipoScience is scheduled to report its second quarter earnings on Aug. 6. On Friday, the company said it expects to report second quarter 2013 revenues of $13.3 million, in line with the low end of the guidance provided during the company’s first quarter 2013 earnings conference call.
