Pharma Industry Archive

Gilead CEO John C Martin got a negligible pay raise in 2008, despite the fact that his company largely met its performance goals. Revenue was up, net income was up, and the stock price held (it’s still double the price it was in 2004). Yet Martin’s total compensation went from $10.8 million in 2007 to $10.9 million in 2008, according to a filing with the SEC. Yes, that’s a...

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To hear the business press tell it, Pfizer CEO Jeff Kindler took a pay cut in 2008. That’s not what Pfizer’s proxy statement, filed this morning, says. Kindler’s total compensation rose from $9.5 million to $13.7 million in 2008. His basic salary rose from $1.4 million to $1.6 million. His stock awards rose from $1.1 million to $4.7 million. His options went up, his pension...

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Gilead’s $1.4 billion takeover of CV Therapeutics was a good deal for one man: CVT CEO Louis G. Lange, who picks up an $8.4 million change-of-control bonus in the pact, according to a CVT filing with the SEC. It’s a particularly good deal considering that CVT hasn’t made a profit in any of the last three years, racked up only $18 million in product sales last year, and lost...

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The Roche takeover of Genentech will cost 1,500 jobs in New Jersey as sales and marketing positions are axed there. R&D staff look more secure, according to the Star-Ledger. The company will also change its name to Genentech. The move makes a mockery of a press conference staged by Gov. Jon Corzine in August, after Roche began its bid for Genentech, when the governor said: “Reports of the...

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Former AstraZeneca U.S. medical director for Seroquel Wayne MacFadden confessed his multiple sexual affairs, and his offer of drugs to one of the women he was sleeping with, to lawyers in December 2007. The confessions include descriptions of sex in hotel rooms paid for by AZ, illicit distribution of Vicodin, and a kinky relationship in which one of his colleagues asked to be...

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Genentech CEO Arthur Levinson gets no special benefits for agreeing to sell his company to Roche for $95 a share, according to the company’s most recently filed proxy statement. That’s a stark contrast to Schering-Plough CEO Fred Hassan, who had specific cash bonuses written into his compensation in the event that he sold the company, netting him a $59 million package, according to...

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Debbie Phelps, mother of Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, has gone from McNeil’s Facebook page, ADHD Moms, according to blogger John Mack. The move follows Michael Phelps’ loss of many of his endorsement contracts because he was photographed sucking on a marijuana bong. UPDATE: A McNeil representative tells BNET that the move was planned, “Debbie Phelps’ departure from...

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The total value of compensation paid to the top five executives at Amgen rose slightly in 2008, to $35.9 million from $34 million in 2007. The team largely met its revenue and EPS goals. This seemingly modest state of affairs came to pass because the team was rewarded with greater amounts of cash but much lower amounts of stock options, whose value changes over time. (See page 73 of the SEC...

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The news that Scott S. Reuben of Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Mass., has faked data for Celebrex, Vioxx, Effexor XR and Lyrica might make you think that the FDA will enact strict new guidelines on drug testing. You’d be wrong. When the FDA discovers fake data it takes only limited actions, applying extra scrutiny only to the lab that developed the bogus studies, according to a...

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LAYOFFS? In the Merck/Schering-Plough merger, layoffs will likely fall most heavily on the Schering employees. This is not just because Merck is the acquiring company and will place its people in the driving seats. (That, of course, will be part of it.) Rather, it’s because Schering has more fat to cut than Merck. For every dollar Merck spends on sales, marketing and management costs, it...

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