Did a dis­as­ter crush your stock in 2018? These biotechs were hap­py to come up with some rich com­pen­sa­tion deals for the CEO any­way

Pok­ing around proxy state­ments every year can de­liv­er some in­ter­est­ing sur­pris­es. And this year has of­fered some doozies as com­pa­nies hit with some of the biggest set­backs of re­cent times re­port­ed out some big hikes in com­pen­sa­tion for their CEOs — as well as at least one Big Phar­ma-sized pay pack­age for a team play­er at a biotech spin­off.

Few com­pa­nies had as many tra­vails this past year as Alk­er­mes. Spurned at the FDA on their lead pipeline drug — the de­pres­sion ther­a­py ALKS-5461 — the stock price $ALKS was crushed and CEO Richard Pops was left to in­sist on a re­view that led them straight down the path to a sum­ma­ry re­jec­tion and a de­mand for more da­ta. And now their stock is trad­ing at a lit­tle over half of what it was at the be­gin­ning of 2018.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER