Top 17 paychecks in Big Pharma

Few statistics are as hotly debated as CEO pay reports. Investors, analysts, and the just plain curious all want to know how much the head honcho makes--and how one company's chief stacks up against another's. While the names themselves probably won't be a surprise, their pecking order might. For instance, the biggest drugmaker by sales--Pfizer--doesn't have the highest-paid executive, and one of the relatively small fry counts its chief among the top 10.  

For U.S. companies, FiercePharma's numbers are based on total compensation reported in their proxy statements. The numbers include base salary, bonus and "other" compensation in 2007. For overseas companies not required to file proxies in the U.S., we gleaned executive pay information from various press reports. So here for your rubbernecking pleasure are the 17 highest-paid CEOs in Big Pharma.

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Related Article:
CEO pay: Who makes what in Big Biotech?