Valeant also said that Robert Ingram, current lead independent director, will become interim board chairman, a role that Pearson had held. The executive served as the company’s chief financial officer from December 2011 through June 2015 and now serves on Valeant’s Board of Directors.
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Mr. Ingram commented: “As Mike’s medical leave continues, and the timing of his recovery and return remains uncertain, Howard will now step in as CEO on an interim basis”.
“Valeant is a strong company with a collection of great franchises and strong healthcare brands, innovative strategies and an exceptionally productive approach to R&D”, Schiller said.
We rate VALEANT PHARMACEUTICALS INTL as a Hold with a ratings score of C. The primary factors that have impacted our rating are mixed – some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks.
Pearson’s hospitalization has threatened to hamper Valeant’s recent efforts to win back the trust of shareholders.
However, it is not clear whether the appointment to replace Pearson is permanent.
Unfortunately, the reports regarding Valeant’s leadership change, which came after the drugmaker’s announcement last week that a group of company executives would take over for Pearson until he returned, have sent the company’s stocks to drop seven percent on Tuesday, Reuters noted. To fill the void after cutting ties with Philidor, the company announced a pricing and distribution deal with Walgreens last month-as well as plans to scrap “virtually all” of its planned price hikes for this year.
Valeant shares were down 3 percent at $97.19 in premarket NY trading.
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Markets seemed satisfied with the temporary replacement.
