Elan nominates dissident board director
This article was originally published in Scrip
Elan has nominated three new directors to the board, including its largest shareholder, Jack Schuler, who previously called for the resignation of CEO Kelly Martin. The other two nominees are Vaughn Bryson, former president and CEO of Lilly, and Richard Pilnik, previously vice-president and chief marketing officer at Lilly.
The company will propose the nominations of the three candidates at the AGM, which will be held on July 16th at 10am, BST. Floyd Bloom, Ann Gray and Dennis Selkoe will retire from the board.
In February, Mr Schuler, also former president of Abbott, wrote a second letter to Elan's chairman demanding the sacking of Mr Martin.
Mr Schuler, who owns more than 5.5 million shares in Elan, expressed concern over the marketing of Prialt (ziconotide intrathecal infusion) and Elan's decision to hire Citibank to review its strategic options (scripnews.com, February 10th, 2009).
Elan has been at the centre of recent takeover speculation, with rumours of Lundbeck and Pfizer as possible acquirers. Its share price was 5.78 pence on the London stock exchange at 14.37 today, up from the opening price of 5.7 pence.