Vivus shake-up puts Zook at helm

Vivus Inc. (NASDAQ:VVUS) and First Manhattan Co. reached a settlement in their ongoing proxy battle that will see seven of the activist investor's proposed directors join a newly reconstituted board alongside four existing Vivus directors. Among the seven new board members is Anthony Zook, who was president of the MedImmune LLC biologics unit of AstraZeneca plc (LSE:AZN; NYSE:AZN) from 2008-09 and was EVP for global commercial operations at AstraZeneca until February. Zook will replace as CEO Leland Wilson, who is among the five current Vivus directors who will be departing. The revised board, which will be expanded to 11 directors from nine, will be voted on by shareholders at a meeting to be held on or before Aug. 14.

First Manhattan, which holds a 9.9% stake in Vivus, has been unhappy with the company's launch of obesity drug Qsymia phentermine/topiramate and had been seeking to replace all nine members of Vivus' board. ...