Anglo-Swedish company, AstraZeneca, slashed chief executive, Sir Tom McKillop’s bonus by 50% in 2004, citing recent “disappointing setbacks” as its underlying reasons.
In its annual report, AstraZeneca said that Sir Tom and the company’s remuneration committee had agreed to a 50% reduction in his bonus in light of the US regulatory setback for the clotbuster, Exanta (ximelegatran) [[11/10/04b]], and recent trial data, which revealed that there was no overall survival benefit amongst patients taking the firm’s non-small cell lung cancer agent, Iressa (gefitinib) [[20/12/04b]].
For the past year, Sir Tom’s total salary of £1.4 million pounds included a £430,000 bonus. His total salary for 2003 was almost £1.8 million. The company, which has seen billions wiped off its share price in recent months, said that the remuneration committee was “mindful in setting the bonus for 2004 that all employees… had seen the value of their shares fall significantly during the year.”
