Dive Brief:
- Working tirelessly to turn around the company, Quebec-based Valeant Pharmaceutical’s new CEO Joseph Papa on Thursday tapped a former colleague from Perrigo to fill a newly created chief quality officer position.
- The appointment of Louis W. Yu to oversee quality and regulatory compliance issues is seen by the company as an important step in Valeant’s hope for turnaround, he said.
- "Delivering quality products leads to quality health outcomes and that is what we are focused on at Valeant," said the CEO as he tried to convince investors that the company is changing its bad behavior.
Dive Insight:
Valeant has been taking incremental steps to transform itself after scandal rocked the company for the last year. Once a Wall Street darling, the specialty pharma took a dive in the summer of 2015 when it emerged that the company was using a specialty pharmacy to inflate profits.
Papa, who took over the helm of Valeant in April, has been working to refurbish its image, with quality as a major touch- stone. As a result, Papa made an executive decision to name a chief quality officer to help steer the company in that direction.
Yu, who is the new chief quality officer, global quality, will report to Papa, and oversee all aspects of quality and regulatory compliance for all of Valeant’s global business and operating sites, the company said in a statement. Yu is a member of Valeant’s executive committee. Yu previously was senior vice president, global quality and compliance at AMRI.
Papa said Yu’s experience "gives him a deep understanding of what our customers and regulators need, and I look forward to working closely with him."
Papa was previously the CEO at generics firm Perrigo before taking on the Valeant challenge. Yu was executive vice president, global quality and compliance at the Dublin, Ireland-based Perrigo from Nov. 2006 to January 2016 where he was responsible for strategic leadership and regulatory compliance, as well as global patient safety/medical affairs departments, the company said.
As for Yu, who seems to have a major task ahead of him, the new quality chief at Valeant said in a statement he is eager to "help the company implement sustainable quality and compliance programs that will further strengthen its businesses."