The WSJ recently wrote about the government’s efforts to bounce Howard Solomon from his seat as Forest Laboratories’ CEO as part of a drive to pin corporate wrongdoing on head honchos, even if they had no direct knowledge of a company’s bad behavior. In Forest’s case, that was sales-related misconduct related to Celexa and Lexapro. The company made a plea deal last September, agreeing to pay $313 million in civil and criminal penalties, but the government later said it intended to exclude Solomon from doing business with Medicare, Medicaid and the VA. That would obviously be an untenable situation for a drug company. Pharmalot reports today that in light of that move, the AFL-CIO, a Forest shareholder, has

written to the company’s board requesting Solomon’s resignation. While the CEO wasn’t himself accused of wrongdoing, “part of the job of chairman and CEO is to manage the company and its subsidiaries to prevent wrongdoing,” the letter says. “Moreover, we believe that Mr. Solomon should resign rather than bring litigation to prevent his exclusion from participation in federal health-care programs,” it continues. Pharmalot says the AFL-CIO Reserve Fund holds 208 shares of Forest Labs,  worth about $7,176 at the recent per-share price of $34.50. We’ve reached out to the AFL-CIO and Forest and will tell you if we hear back. Image: iStockphoto

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AFL-CIO, a Forest Labs Shareholder, Wants Solomon Out as CEO