Valeant to replace CEO, adds activist investor to board

The CEO of Valeant Pharmaceuticals is leaving, a director has resigned, and the embattled drug company wants another director to leave too, as it works to clean up its financial statements and resolve several investigations.

Shares of the Canadian drug company, which had slid to nearly a tenth of the all-time high they hit last summer, rallied Monday after it announced the management shake-up.

Valeant said the former chief financial officer, who served as interim CEO during Pearson's medical leave, has refused to do so.

[...] the company has been swamped in recent months with a host of problems including massive debt, ongoing federal probes of its accounting and pricing practices, and shareholder lawsuits in the U.S. and Canada.

Valeant said Monday that its improper revenue recognition may have stemmed in part from "the tone at the top of the organization and the performance-based environment at the company, where challenging targets were set and achieving those targets was a key performance expectation."