Valeant Announces Executive Changes, Licensing Agreement

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. said Monday that Christina Ackermann has been named general counsel effective immediately, succeeding Robert Chai-Onn, who will be leaving later this year. Ackermann spent the last 14 years in various legal roles at Novartis AG . This is one of a number of executive changes the company has made. Scott Hirsch has joined Valeant as senior vice president of business strategy and communications from Citadel Investment Group, where he oversaw equity investments and risk management in the health sector at Surveyor Capital. Dr. Ari Kellen has been named company group chairman leading the Bausch & Lomb business, Tom Appio has been promoted to company group chairman, leading all of Valeant's markets outside of the U.S. and Canada, and Pavel Mirovsky, the company's European president will retire later this year, among other promotions and changes. The company has also announced a licensing agreement with Norgine B.V. in which Valeant has gotten the right to develop and commercialize NER1006 Powder for Oral Solution in the U.S. and Canada, a bowel preparation for a colonoscopy. A U.S. regulatory filing is anticipated for 2016. Valeant shares are up 1.4% in premarket trading, but down more than 91% for the past year. The S&P 500 Index is up 5.1% for the last 12 months.