March 21 (Reuters) - Valeant Pharmaceuticals (NYSE:VRX) International
Inc VRX.TO VRX.N , target of a securities investigation and
under scrutiny for its pricing and accounting practices, said on
Monday that its longtime chief executive officer was leaving
just three weeks after returning from a medical leave.
The past few months have also put a question mark over the
troubled Canadian drugmaker's overall strategy of rapid
acquisition-driven expansion, taking on heavy debt and
aggressive price hikes.
Following is a summary of key events in Valeant's history:
December 2007: Biovail Corp of Canada, Valeant's predecessor,
pays $138 million to settle a shareholder lawsuit accusing it of
making false statements to inflate its stock price.
February 2008: California-based Valeant Pharmaceuticals
International names McKinsey & Co veteran and pharmaceutical
acquisitions expert Michael Pearson (LON:PSON) as its CEO. It buys Coria
Laboratories for $95 million and Australia's DermaTech for $12.6
million.
March 2008: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charges
Biovail Corp, its former CEO and three other senior executives
with fraudulent accounting and making a series of misstatements
to analysts and investors.
January 2009: Valeant buys Dow Pharmaceutical Sciences Inc, a
maker of topical dermatology products, for $285 million, and
buys Mexican generic drugmaker Tecnofarma.
May 2010: Valeant buys Aton Pharmaceuticals, a New Jersey-based
maker of ophthalmology products, for $318 million.
Sept 2010: Valeant is acquired by Biovail in a reverse merger.
Pearson becomes CEO of the combined company, with an annual
revenue of $1.75 billion. It takes Valeant's name and is
incorporated in Canada, taking advantage of a lower corporate
tax rate than in the United States.
2011: Valeant settles a civil lawsuit brought by the SEC
accusing Biovail of accounting fraud. It boosts its presence in
Central and Eastern Europe by buying Switzerland-based generic
company PharmaSwiss for $481 million; AB Sanitas of Lithuania
for about $500 million; Canada's Afexa Life Sciences and Sanofi (PA:SASY)
SA's dermatology unit Dermik. However, it fails in its $5.7
billion unsolicited bid for U.S. biotech Cephalon to an almost
$7 billion offer from Israeli drugmaker Teva Pharmaceutical (NYSE:TEVA)
Industries TEVA.TA .
Dec. 2012: Valeant buys Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp for $2.6
billion, acquiring anti-wrinkle medicines and facial fillers
that compete with Allergan (NYSE:AGN_pa) Inc's AGN.N market-leading
portfolio.
April 2013: Valeant offers more than $13 billion in stock for
smaller U.S. rival Actavis Inc (NYSE:AGN), but merger talks collapse.
August 2013: In its biggest deal ever, Valeant buys eye-care
company Bausch & Lomb from private equity firm Warburg Pincus
for $8.6 billion.
January 2014: After making the list of the world's top 15
drugmakers by market capitalization, Pearson tells analysts
Valeant aims to crack the top 5 by the end of 2016.
March 2014: Jim Grant, editor of an investment journal,
criticizes Valeant for its lack of concern for research and
development.
April 2014: Valeant and activist investor William Ackman's
Pershing Square (NYSE:SQ) Capital Management hedge fund team up in effort
to buy Botox-maker Allergan.
May 2014: Bronte Capital's John Hempton says his fund is
shorting Valeant, calling its accounts "difficult to
comprehend." James Chanos, founder of Kynikos Associates and
short on Valeant, accuses it of "aggressive accounting games."
June 2014: Allergan, fending off Valeant's takeover attempt,
releases email exchanges with Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in which the bank
called Valeant a "house of cards."
Nov. 2014: Valeant and Ackman end their pursuit for Allergan
after rival Actavis outbids them with a $66 billion offer.
March 2015: Pershing Square discloses it has taken a 5 percent
stake in Valeant.
April 2015: Valeant completes its $11 billion purchase of Salix
Pharmaceuticals, a maker of gastrointestinal medicines.
June 2015: Long-time investor ValueAct Capital Management says
it sold 4.2 million Valeant shares, but retains a stake worth
over $3 billion.
Sept. 28, 2015: Democratic members of a congressional committee
urge chairman to subpoena Valeant over "massive" price increases
for two of its heart drugs.
Oct. 15, 2015: Valeant says it has been subpoenaed by U.S.
prosecutors seeking details on its patient assistance programs,
drug pricing and distribution practices.
Oct. 19, 2015: New York Times reports how Valeant has used its
ties with specialty pharmacy Philidor to sell conventional
medications, averting health insurer barriers to reimbursement.
In a conference call later that day, Valeant discloses for the
first time that it has used Philidor's services, has an option
to buy the pharmacy and has already incorporated its financials
in its own results.
Oct. 21, 2015: Valeant shares plunge as much as 40 percent after
an influential short-seller, Citron Research, accuses the
company of using specialty pharmacies, including Philidor, to
inflate its revenue. Valeant categorically denies the
allegations.
Oct. 26, 2015: Valeant holds investor call to defend itself
against Citron allegations and sets up ad-hoc committee to study
them in depth. Valeant shares end 5.3 percent lower.
Oct. 30, 2015: Valeant cuts ties with specialty pharmacy
distributor, Philidor, accused of helping it inflate revenue.
Philidor has since gone out of business. Valeant later warned
that its dermatology business would be hurt in the short term.
Dec. 15, 2015: Valeant inks a deal to distribute its drugs
through pharmacy chain Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc WBA.O .
Dec. 16, 2015: Valeant says its Q4 profit was hit when it cut
ties with Philidor Rx Services, but it could contain the damage
in 2016 and grow profit.
Dec. 28, 2015: Valeant appoints group of company executives to
take over duties of Chief Executive Michael Pearson until he
returns from medical leave.
Jan. 6, 2016: The company appoints its former CFO, Howard
Schiller, as interim CEO.
Jan. 28, 2016: Campaign of Democratic presidential contender
Hillary Clinton posts a blog detailing exorbitant price hikes
for a migraine drug made by Valeant.
Feb. 4, 2016: At a U.S. congressional hearing, interim CEO
Schiller puts forward a conciliatory face, testifying that his
company had changed its business and pricing tactics.
Feb. 22, 2016: Valeant says it would restate its financial
results for 2014 and 2015 after identifying some sales of
Philidor that should have been recognized when products were
dispensed to patients.
Feb. 29, 2016: Valeant discloses it is under investigation by
the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission a day after
announcing the return of CEO Pearson from medical leave and
withdrawing 2016 forecasts.
March 7, 2016: Valeant says it would release preliminary
quarterly results and guidance on March 15, two weeks after they
were originally scheduled for release.
March 9, 2016: The company adds a representative from
shareholder Pershing Square Capital Management to its board, as
well as two other new directors.
March 10, 2016: A U.S. congressional committee urges Valeant to
explain why it was withholding documents related to an
investigation of steep price hikes of two of its heart drugs.
March 15, 2016: Valeant cuts 2016 revenue forecast by about 12
percent and says a delay in filing its annual report could mean
a default on its $30 million debt, causing its shares to plunge
50 percent in one day.
March 21, 2016: Valeant says CEO Pearson is leaving and Ackman
will join the board as it tries to save its business, and its
shares rise more than 7 percent. Valeant blames accounting
issues on "improper conduct" by top finance executives,
including Schiller, who denies the accusation.
Sources: Reuters, Valeant press statements