Valeant Pharma names new finance chief

Valeant Pharmaceuticals changed finance chiefs as it sought to distance itself from accusations of price-gouging and dodgy accounting practices that saw its share price drop by more than 90% over the course of just above one year.

Paul Herendeen, previously the chief financial officer at Zoetis, would take over from recently-appointed interim CFO Robert Rosiello effective immediately. Herendeen had over 30 years of financial experience, including in the CFO function at Warner Chilcott and MedPointe.

Rosiello was to remain as vice-president for Corporate Development and Strategy. Earlier in 2016 Valeant had also replaced previous chief executive officer Michael Pearson with Joseph Papa.

In early April 2016, the company said it would restate some of its results for 2014 and 2015 but that an ad-hoc board committee had found no other "additional items requiring restatements".

A short-seller of the stock had raised questions in 2015 regarding the Quebec-based drug distributor's relationship with Philidor Rx Services, a pharmacy chain, and whether it was not inflating its sales figures through the use of the outfit.

The company was still facing investigations from the US Congress, the US stockmarket regulator and federal prosecutors.

Nevertheless, on 18 August the company was able to negotiate easier terms on its debt covenants for a second time, thus reducing the risk of a possible bankruptcy.

As of 13:56 BST shares in Valeant were 2.82% higher at $29.55.