A shareholder argues company directors knew the Food and Drug Administration wasn’t likely to approve their drug for kidney disease patients well before the drug application was halted last fall.

His complaint, filed against Tricida Inc. and its directors Monday in the District of Delaware, says the company touting its drug candidate as likely to be approved in August, then giving word parts of the drug application were deficient, led to share prices dropping from over $26 to less than $4 in the span of a few months.