Pliva: Barr president resignation will not affect integration

Pliva has announced the resignation of its board member Paul M Bisaro, the president and chief operating officer of its parent company, Barr Pharmaceuticals, while expressing confidence that this change will not affect the almost-finalised integration of Pliva into the firm.

The company reports that Bruce L Downey, currently chairman and chief executive officer of Barr, will also become interim president and chief operating officer of the firm.

Pliva noted its regret at Mr Bisaro’s departure, though expressed understanding at his desire to take on greater responsibility and visibility with his new appointment at Watson Pharmaceuticals.

Mr Downey said: “The operations portion of our business that had previously reported to Paul will now report directly to me and the reporting structure within the organisation has now been appropriately modified.”

He added that the integration activities of its multi-disciplinary teams set up last year following the acquisition of Pliva would continue, forecasting an on-schedule completion of the integration of the companies, with these changes unaffected by the departure of Mr Bisaro.

In November 2006, Barr reported that the acquisition of Pliva had resulted in the formation of the third-largest generic pharmaceutical firm in the world.