Dolan leaves Bristol-Myers

BMY said Peter Dolan left his position as CEO after former federal judge Frederick Lacey urged the board to terminate Dolan's employment. James Cornelius, a BMY director and chairman emeritus of Guidant (GDT), will act as BMY's interim CEO. Lacey's recommendation follows an inquiry by the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey into corporate governance issues related to the proposed settlement of patent litigation for a generic version of BMY's Plavix clopidogrel cardiovascular drug. Lacey is acting as the monitor under the company's deferred prosecution agreement with the office of the U.S. Attorney. BMY said the U.S. Attorney's inquiry is unrelated to a criminal investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice into the proposed settlement.

In March, BMY and marketing partner sanofi-aventis (Euronext:SAN; SNY) conditionally agreed to settle a patent dispute with Apotex ( Weston, Ontario) in a deal that would have provided the Canadian company with a U.S. license to sell clopidogrel in the U.S. starting in September 2011, or earlier that year if SAN does not receive a pediatric extension. The States' Attorneys General said they would not approve the settlement, which prompted the companies to modify the deal terms in June. That agreement also was rejected by the States' Attorneys General. ...