Valeant shakeup brings new CFO

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. chose Paul Herendeen, an executive at veterinary drugmaker Zoetis Inc., as its new chief financial officer in an ongoing leadership shakeup sparked by an accounting scandal.

Robert Rosiello, who had been CFO, will remain at Valeant as executive vicepresident for corporate development and strategy, the company said in a statement Monday. Its shares jumped 9.7 per cent to close Monday at $40.55 in Toronto.

The move, effective immediately, marks the latest management change at the embattled drugmaker. Valeant replaced chief executive Michael Pearson this year with Joseph Papa, who had been CEO of Perrigo Co. Two months after announcing the CEO change, Valeant appointed a new chief accounting officer, who assumed those duties from Rosiello. Other top executives have left as well.

Herendeen has been working as CFO at Zoetis since September 2014. Before that, he was CFO of specialty drugmaker Warner Chilcott PLC. His appointment was reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal.

Valeant is attempting to recover from an accounting scandal in which the company had to restate some sales figures from 2014 and 2015. The Laval, Que.- based company is facing investigations from Congress, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and f ederal prosecutors.

The drugmaker, which has about US$ 31 billion in debt, last week said it had renegotiated its agreement with lenders, allowing it to miss some of its own forecasts without risking default.