Departing Pozen Execs Receive Big Pay Day as Company Looks to Merger with Tribute

Departing Pozen Execs Receive Big Pay Day as Company Looks to Merger with Tribute
December 28, 2015
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – As Pozen, Inc. begins to look at a completely new identity as Aralez Pharmaceuticals after it merges with Canadian-based Tribute Pharmaceuticals, several outgoing executive team members received large bonuses, the Triangle Business Journal reported this morning.

According to the Journal, outgoing Chief Financial Officer William Hodges, General Counsel Gilda Thomas and Chief Business Operations Officer Dennis McNamara, who all resigned Dec. 23, received “100 percent of their respective target annual bonuses, a year’s base salary and are eligible to have their health and dental premiums reimbursed for 18 months.” The Journal reported Hodges’ salary in 2014 was $364,602, Thomas earned $339,648 and McNamara took home $262,522 in 2014. They received bonuses of $108,225, $101,025 and $78,000 respectively last year, the Journal noted.

Tribute stockholders will vote on the merger Feb. 1 and Pozen stockholders will vote Feb. 2. If the merger is approved, Pozen is expected to relocate to Ontario, Canada in order to benefit from the tax structure, the company said in November. Initially the two companies planned to be based in Ireland, but they said the Canadian tax structure was similar. In June, Pozen acquired Tribute for $146 million.

Aralez Pharmaceuticals will utilize the products and pipelines from both pharmaceutical companies. Aralez has already received $300 million in funding provided by Deerfield Management Company. Aralez will use the capital funding to launch Yosprala upon approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Yosprala is Pozen’s “safer aspirin" product that contains either 325 mg or 81 mg of enteric-coated aspirin surrounded by 40 mg of immediate release omeprazole. In December, Pozen and Sanofi terminated their agreement to commercialize Yosprala in the United States.

The two companies stuck an agreement in 2013 that included $15 million in upfront money, an additional $20 million in milestone payments and tiered royalties of 12.25 to 22.5 percent. Also in December, Pozen received two complete response letters from the FDA after investigators found deficiencies during an inspection of a foreign manufacturing facility. There were no clinical or safety issues noted in the letters with respect to the drugs, and no other problems were cited.

In addition to Yosprala, Pozen also makes Treximet, an FDA approved drug for migraines. The company also co-developed Vimovo with AstraZeneca PLC . Vimovo was approved by the FDA for the relief of osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis, as well as to decrease the risk of developing gastric ulcers in patients at risk of developing NSAID-associated gastric ulcers.

Tribute markets migraine medication Cambia, hyperlipidaemia drug Bezalip SR, psoriasis drug Soriatane, NeoVisc, for the treatment of joint pain and others. If the deal closes, the Journal noted the new Aralez will promote Tribute’s “already-approved Fibricore in April with a 20 to 25 percent sales force ahead of the expected fourth quarter launch of Yosprala.”

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