AZ’s Brennan nabs 11% pay hike to $5.89M
'Tis the season for executive pay raises, and AstraZeneca's ( $AZN ) David Brennan is no exception. Last year, Brennan won an 11% increase in overall compensation to ?3.37 million, from ?3 million in 2010, the Financial Times reports. For those of us who think in dollars, that's $5.89 million and $4.77 million, respectively. The FT makes the point that Brennan's raise comes at a challenging time for AstraZeneca, with Seroquel's patent expiring today and three more significant expirations over the next 5 years (see our Seroquel story for more). It has also seen some R&D disappointments recently, dismaying investors who were hoping that a few late-stage drugs could jump into the patent-cliff gap. But stacking up Brennan's pay alongside his Big Pharma brethren, $5.89 million comes in toward the bottom. U.K. rival GlaxoSmithKline's ( $GSK ) boss got a 24% raise to ?6.7 million, or $10.5 million, while Bristol-Myers Squibb ( $BMY ) chief Lamberto Andreotti clocked a 27% increase to almost $15 million. It can certainly be argued that these companies have better short-term prospects than AstraZeneca does, particularly Bristol-Myers, which has an impressive recent record on the R&D side. But the fact remains that Brennan is far from the highest paid pharma exec out there–and given AstraZeneca's current problems, that raise could be considered hazard pay. – read the FT story ?Related?Articles: With patent running out, AZ loses bid to block Seroquel copies Abbott execs take pay cuts, but White still nabs $24M J&J's Weldon due for $143M retirement package After big hike in 2011, GSK CEO's pay set to jump again
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