Valeant Chief Executive Michael Pearson, Chief Financial Officer Robert Rosiello, Chairmen Ari Kellen and Deb Jorn, along with Corporate Controller Tanya Carro, will be on the call, which will begin at 8.00 a.m ET on Tuesday. With the volume soaring to 28,709,621 shares, the last trade was called at $83.68. The company claimed it was not required to do so since it derived only 7% of its total revenue from Philidor.
Advertisement
Shares in NYSE and Toronto-listed Valeant are down 68% from their peak in August.
Ackman called the sell off in Valeant shares a result of unwarranted “fear” and “panic”. Before controversy enveloped Philidor-which short seller Citron Research accused Valeant of using to inflate its top line-sizeable price increases on a pair of heart meds Valeant purchased this year from Marathon Pharmaceuticals drew ire from politicians and lawmakers. The business ‘s developed markets segment consists of sales in the United States of America of OTC goods, pharmaceutical products, and medical device products. The company has said it has found no evidence of illegality but established a board committee to look into its relationship with a specialty pharmacy that distributed its drugs.
While that brings down the average price of the drugs, it’s also created to keep physicians prescribing them, Pearson said. Immediately thereafter, there will be a question and answer segment for investors and analysts. High activity stocks may mean that something is going on in the company, and are therefore watched more closely by investors.
Valeant will give details when it updates financial guidance in December, said Pearson, whose tone during the call ranged from apologetic to defiant.
Valeant severed ties with specialty pharmacy partner Philidor RX in late October after revelations of Philidor’s questionable business practices and ties to Valeant surfaced.
Valeant’s priority for the near term will be paying down debt, he said.
The past few weeks have been a painful learning experience for me personally, said Pearson, who sounded exhausted and at times stumbled over prepared remarks about the company’s missteps. The crisis deepened when Express Scripts and CVS cut business ties with Philidor after revelations began leaking out.
Philidor couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on Valeant’s remarks Thursday.
To smooth things over, Valeant is offering “discounts that are significant” on those meds, Pearson said, noting that they’d take a quarterly hit, generating about 20% less than they did in Q3.
“We started getting rid of our position in Valeant after (Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton) tweeted: ‘Price gouging like this in the specialty drug market is outrageous, ‘” said a manager at another hedge, requesting anonymity.
Advertisement
Valeant said on October 19 that it might sell its neurology drugs unit, would invest more in research and development, and was less likely to buy companies and then raise the prices of drugs acquired in the deal.
