Bristol-Myers Squibb today sacked chief executive Peter Dolan after a court-appointed monitor said the drug maker may have breached a deal with US prosecutors to drop accounting fraud charges.
Dolan 'will leave the position of chief executive officer, effective immediately,' the company said in a statement.
The board of directors appointed James Cornelius, a director of the company since January 2005 and chairman emeritus of medical device maker Guidant Corporation, as interim CEO.
The board also announced that Richard Willard will leave the position of senior vice president and general counsel, effective immediately, to be replaced on an interim basis by Sandra Leung. Leung will be advised by former FBI chief Louis Freeh.
The company said that it acted following a report by former federal judge Frederick Lacey, who recommended that Dolan and Willard's employment be terminated.
The 2005 deal avoided prosecution on 'channel stuffing', in which the company offered incentives to wholesalers to hold greater quantities of prescription drugs to lift company earnings.
The company said it was reviewing the actions of top company executives in their efforts to block a generic version of Plavix, a top-selling medication that can be used to protect patients from having another heart attack. Plavix is marketed jointly by Bristol-Myers and Sanofi-Aventis of France.
Despite the ousting of the CEO, Bristol Myers said the monitor's report had 'no finding of any unlawful conduct by the company or any of its employees.'
