Bristol-Myers Squibb
Ever since the channel-stuffing -- pushing products to wholesalers ahead of demand in order to meet quarterly and yearly revenue goals -- I've always wondered why the company didn't dismiss then-CEO Peter Dolan. Monday, based on a recommendation from a federal judge appointed to monitor the company after the channel-stuffing, Bristol-Myers' board finally replaced him (the company couldn't bring itself to say fired).
The impetus was that the federal judge noticed some "issues related to corporate governance in connection with the negotiation of a settlement agreement of the pending Plavix patent litigation with Apotex." Bristol-Myers then went on to say that no one found that Dolan broke any laws in the matter, which involved the blood thinner and Apotex, a manufacturer of generic drugs.
It sounds like Bristol-Myers is spinning a bit. If Dolan didn't do anything wrong in the Plavix patent negotiations with Apotex, then why would he be dismissed over the issue? Something sounds fishy to me.
A director of Bristol-Myers, James Cornelius, will take over as interim CEO. This announcement sent shares of Bristol-Myers up because Cornelius was interim CEO of Guidant when Boston Scientific
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The larger message from all that's going on at Bristol-Myers this week is that it's important to understand that large pharmaceutical companies like Bristol-Myers, Pfizer
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Fool contributor Brian Lawler does not own shares of any company mentioned in this article and welcomes your feedback. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy .