
Ex-Purdue CEO stands to earn a huge windfall in Novartis' buyout of the Medicines Co
Mark Timney, the ex-Purdue Pharma CEO named in dozens of lawsuits against the OxyContin maker, stands to earn over $85 million in Novartis’s $9.7 billion buyout of the Medicines Company.
Timney joined the Medicines Company as CEO in December, after four years helming the company broadly considered to be at the heart of the opioid abuse crisis. SEC filings from the time of his hire show he agreed to purchase $500,000 worth of stock at the time and was also granted one million performance and time-vested stock options.
Every employee stock option will vest per the agreement and Novartis is offering $85 per share. With 30,000 shares he owned as of a September filing and purchased for $21.60 a share, Timney could take home a little over $87 million.
A spokesperson for the Medicines Company declined to comment on executive compensation.
Timney remains a named defendant in over 30 ongoing lawsuits against Purdue Pharma, the drug giant accused of misleading doctors on the addictiveness of its best-selling drug. Timney, the Connecticut Attorney General’s complaint alleges, directed his salesforce to tout the supposed abuse-deterrent technology in OxyContin even as he gave internal presentations acknowledging that the technology was unlikely to work and patients would continue to become addicted.
Timney and his predecessor John Stewart “participated directly in Purdue’s unfair and deceptive acts and practices alleged in this complaint,” the complaint alleges. “They had the authority to control Purdue’s business practices, including complete oversight and control over Purdue’s corporate policies and activities. They were actively involved in Purdue’s business affairs and actively participated in the making of company policy. They knew of the unfair and deceptive acts and practices alleged herein, and their actions and inactions resulted in the misconduct.”
The Massachusets complaint alleges “John Stewart, Mark Timney, and Craig Landau each directed Purdue’s deception as CEO of Purdue Pharma.”
Medicines Company spokesman Michael Blash defended Timney’s resume and work for the biotech in an email to Endpoints News: “Mark is an accomplished and committed healthcare leader whose leadership has served the company well during this important strategic phase.”