Top 15 Big Pharma Paychecks of 2008

I read somewhere that Allergan's CEO earnt about $14 million, why is he absent from this list?

Incredible what some of these imcompetent people make.

No single person in publicly held company deserves to ake this kind of money. their should be a limit on how much the CEOs should earn compared to their lowest paid employee. They can earn anywhere from 40X to 100X but not thousands of times.... And specially these are same CEOs who have these companies in trouble...

This article only discusses "CEO salaries". So, what are their total compensation packages and hidden non-taxable perks???

So, which company is in trouble in this list? I can think of none. And who is to judge these people as incompetent? They are not running to the government for a bailout! They run profitable companies around the world. They are compensated according to industry standards. So just because you are jealous that you are not making the millions then go out, get a degree, work your way up and then receive the dividends. Otherwise shut the hell up about CEOs making millions. I don't make millions but I can appreciate those who do and see all the hard work they put in to get where they are! We live in a Capitalist society where those who work hard deserve to be duly compensated.

I agree, who cares what the CEOs make as long as the company is profitable and attentive to its shareholders. It is another story if the company is taking federal bailouts, but this is not the case in Big Pharma. As stated earlier, we are a capitalist society, not socialized one...well at least not yet!

In this world (last 15 years) if you have BEEN a president, good or bad one, you can find a company that will hire you as THEIR president. A background check should be presented to the board of directors and to the shareholders to approve

All these BIG CEO's and Chairmen sit on each others board of directors...they give each other pay raises and stock or options...it is a scam!

I agree that those people are working hard and have very high qualification; sure, they deserve good compensation. But consider 2 points: a) their salary is NOT comparable with any employee salary and it doesn't matter how hard their employees work; b) it is shame to lay off thousands of people and to get this kind of compensation for your improper strategy. Most of these companies lay off people on a daily base for many years, not depending on today’s economical crisis.

It is not that somebody is just jelous, there are such things like humanity, honesty and shame that some people on the higher level loose completely climbing up.

CEOs, like any sports figure, get paid what the market is willing to pay them. Evidently, the company thinks these men are worth this much--and that is what matters. I means that I also may have an opportunity to earn big bucks--YAY!

I don't have a problem with the big O making millions on her book club, its HER book club. These CEO's are employees and can not fathom what makes them worth this kind of money. The folks WHO invented the drugs are the true value. I am usre thes companies could be run successfully by people and pay far less.

Notice that there are no women on the list!

Capitalism is based on an exchange of GOOD AND/OR SERVICES for $$. You can be capitalist, believe in the free-market system, and still think these salaries are exhorbitant and worst of all...unsustainable. When this greed causes collapse, when those you must lay-off to protect your stock price need unemployment, welfare, and mortgage bailouts, you will scream "Socialism" with narry a thought to your own involvement.

Everyone on here makes valid points. But until the world we all live in change there thought pattern on the salaries that athlete's and CEO make we can all debate this topic for decades. I say if the CEO makes a bonus then everyone in the company must be paid a bonus. Since the CEO makes his bonus on the backs of the little people. So share the wealth!!

side comment: come on people, if you are reading FiercePharma, you must be an intelligent person. Why, then, are there so many spelling and grammar mistakes in just about every single post?! Aren't scientists supposed to pay attention to detail? Check the dictionary if you need to understand the difference between "there", "their", "they're", "CEOs", and "CEO's", "companies", and "company's".

It's funny how the topic of "no women on the list" is completely ignored.

on the topic of "no women on the list":
men and women really are from mars and venus, respectively. being a woman scientist myself, i have one plausible explanation. most of us, at some point, end up having babies and choose to dedicate more time to family than career ambitions. i wouldn't say that women are necessarily discriminated against, it's just that we typically have other priorities. i realize, i'm generalizing here, (and there are plenty of successful women in top level jobs) but who, in most typical families, is spending more time raising the kids? someone has to do it and i see nothing wrong with that! otherwise, where would we get our next generation of scientists? ;-)

What explains the huge differential between someone like Andrew Witty at GSK and Miles White at Abbott? Certainly not the size of the company I would have thought.... and to a limited extent, not the performance

What explains the huge differential between someone like Andrew Witty at GSK and Miles White at Abbott? Certainly not the size of the company I would have thought.... and to a limited extent, not the performance

Allergan is not considered Big Pharma but rather specialty pharma. This may explain why David Pyott is not included.

This is great. My kuddos to Bill Weldon for securing this salary, while at the same time laying off more than 7,000 of my best friends (yes i am from JnJ) and destroying the company he inherited with his imcopentence

Please note that Novartis CEO Dr.Vasella's first name is Daniel (Dan) not David.
Also Genentech's CEO is no longer Arthur Levinson but Ian T. Clark.