Things are heating up........
Major Shareholder Jack W. Schuler Calls for Termination of Elan CEO
Friday December 12, 2008, 5:30 pm EST
Yahoo! Buzz Print LAKE FOREST, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Crabtree Partners, an independent healthcare and biotechnology investment company, announced today that it has submitted a letter to Elan Pharmaceuticals Chairman of the Board, Kyran Mclaughlin, calling for the termination of Elan’s CEO, Kelly Martin. Letter follows below. The move comes following a drop in the company’s stock price from $37 to $7 over the last four months (most of this prior to general market decline).
“Lack of relevant industry experience, gross incompetence related to the management of Tysabri and its partnership with Biogen, and egregious misuse of company resources have caused investors to lose confidence in Mr. Martin and his management team,” said Crabtree Co-Founder Jack Schuler. “Given the company’s unacceptable performance, the board has a fiduciary obligation to take immediate action.”
This comes on the heels of recent news coverage detailing Kelly’s alleged mismanagement, as well as receiving the Nance Trophy as, “The Worst Biotech CEO” of 2008.
Jack Schuler is a co-founder and partner of Crabtree Partners, and is one of the largest shareholders of Elan with more than 5.5 million shares. He is a former president of Abbott Laboratories and former board member of Chiron, ICOS and Amgen. Schuler was instrumental in forming two highly successful healthcare companies, Stericycle and Ventana Medical Systems, where he was chairman and the largest shareholder. Recently Ventana was sold to Roche. He is currently on the board of directors of Stericycle, Quidel, and Medtronic. |
