Dive Brief:
- ISS, a compay that provides advise to asset managers, thinks that the $45.8 million that Vertex CEO Jeff Leiden received in 2014 is excessive.
- Leiden is ranked 40th among U.S. executives at publicly traded companies in terms of compensation, including stock options.
- The company's board has deemed Leiden's performance excellent, especially given the fact that Vertex's stock has increased 226% since February 2012 when he took the reins as CEO.
Dive Insight:
For patients with cystic fibrosis (CF), Vertex's Kalydeco (ivacaftor) is a potential game-changer that has received a tremendous amount of attention from the medical community, not only because of its ability to treat symtoms in patients with CF in a new way, but also because of the $300,000 price tag.
Yet despite that price tag, Vertex has not been profitable since 2012 based on EBIDTA and is not expected to make money until 2016. The company is making innovative therapies and helping to enhance the standard of care for CF, but ISS maintains that Leiden's pay level is based on "non-rigorous" methods of calculating appropriate compensation.