Bharat's ex boss at Merck Serono was the head of the US and then became the CEO. No prizes for guessing who was doing all the great work for him.....read below - but a summary for those who don't have the attention span to read any document more than 200 words (that's UCB for you - what? what was that? sorry, I was looking at text message, pinging someone on skype and reading the next juicy low-value announcement on UCB plaza:
"accused of using an M.S. charity as a "money laundering thing" that funneled kickbacks to doctors who prescribed a lot of its M.S. drug,
Rebif.
Another "meaningful way" that Firouz tripled his revenues was by
illegally promoting human growth hormone to AIDS patients for unapproved "off-label" uses. In 2005, the company paid $705 million to make the case go away."
CBS News 2011
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-an-ms-drugmaker-took-2-weeks-to-disclose-its-ceo-had-quit/
Multiple sclerosis drugmaker
EMD Serono has a new CEO, James Hoyes, which isn't news until you ask what happened to the old CEO. Former CEO
Fereydoun Firouz resigned sometime before May 3, but the company didn't tell anyone outside the building until it published this
May 20 press release.
It was almost as if Serono was unprepared when Firouz suddenly "independently decided to pursue other professional opportunities," as the statement put it. The company didn't quote Firouz even though he had been with the company for two decades.
In an unfortunate coincidence, Firouz's departure came 24 hours before
Serono agreed to pay a $44 million settlement in a case in which it had been accused of using an M.S. charity as a "money laundering thing" that funneled kickbacks to doctors who prescribed a lot of its M.S. drug,
Rebif. The
charity then sent cease-and-desist letters to an M.S. activist who used her Facebook page to highlight the allegations. Firouz was not personally accused of any wrongdoing.
Feyrouz became CEO in 2003.
Serono said:
During his tenure as President and CEO of EMD Serono, Mr. Firouz tripled the revenues and capabilities of the US organization, instilling pride, integrity and purpose amongst the employee base with a focus on advancing science and medicine, impacting the health of patients, being a leader and contributing to society in a meaningful way. Another "meaningful way" that Firouz tripled his revenues was by
illegally promoting human growth hormone to AIDS patients for unapproved "off-label" uses. In 2005, the company paid $705 million to make the case go away. That settlement excluded Serono from receiving revenue from Medicare and Medicaid, and put the company under
a five-year corporate integrity agreement. The more recent "money laundering thing" extended the CIA another three years.
Perhaps Hoyes will have more luck during his tenure. He has already promised to be more
transparent about Serono's payments to doctors.