(Bloomberg) -- A week after Novartis AG had to explain its entanglement in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, Chief Executive Officer Vas Narasimhan dialed into a conference call of epic proportions.
On the other end of the line: 5,000 of his top managers.
Narasimhan’s urgent message on Monday, according to a person familiar with the situation, was that Novartis needs to regain public trust and rethink the way it does business with consulting firms, lobbyists and other groups. That’s after the disclosure that the Swiss pharmaceutical company paid $1.2 million to a consulting firm led by Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, an arrangement the CEO later called a mistake.
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The call highlights the CEO’s unhappiness with the controversy and determination to reshape the company’s culture after the revelations of payments to Cohen and earlier allegations of improper sales practices. In an internal letter last week that was reviewed by Bloomberg, Narasimhan said he’s committed to fighting for the company and acknowledged the disappointment and frustration felt by many of its roughly 125,000 employees.
A 13-year company veteran and Harvard-trained doctor who replaced Joe Jimenez atop the drugmaker in February, Narasimhan is preparing to meet investors at an event Wednesday in Novartis’s hometown of Basel. Novartis is completing a review to determine its next steps after an internal investigation -- conducted with outside advisers and completed in November -- found the company didn’t do anything illegal, said the person, who asked not to be named because the information isn’t public. The company declined to comment.
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