Yesterday, the embattled Endo Pharmaceuticals named a pharma veteran some call "Mr. Fix-It" to replace its departed executive officer. David Holveck (photo), who retired from Johnson & Johnson March 1, led Centocor out of the valley of the shadow of death in the early 1990s; that company, of course, was bought out by J&J in 1999. Holveck then became a J&J group chairman; most recently, he was president of J&J Development Corp.
He'll have his work cut out for him at Endo, too. The company's largest shareholder, D.E. Shaw & Co., demanded late lat month that the board hire an investment bank to explore a possible sale before replacing CEO Peter Lankau, who stepped down March 1. Observers said Holveck's reputation as a visionary might help calm investors and give the company time to regroup. "He could be transformational to Endo if he can accomplish here what he did at Centocor," one analyst said.
- check out Endo's press release
- read the analysis from the Philadelphia Inquirer
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