NOVARTIS: Mi "amigo" Joe (Jimenez) no dijo todo...(I)

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Novartis’s relationship with 

Michael Cohen 

was longer and more detailed 

than previously disclosed 
by the company.

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On May 11, 2018, Novartis issued a misleading public statement minimizing its relationship with Mr. Cohen.  
Novartis stated that, on March 1, 2017, after signing the agreement with Mr. Cohen and meeting with him one time, company officials determined he would not be able to provide the anticipated services and “decided not to engage with him further.”

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But documents provided by Novartis reveal that Mr. Cohen and thenNovartis CEO Joe Jimenez had multiple additional communications over the next six months. These documents indicate that Mr. Cohen and Mr. Jimenez – who was still the Novartis CEO at the time – had at least four phone calls, and, between April and September 2017, exchanged multiple emails on substantive issues, including the Trump administration’s drug pricing proposals, Novartis’s potential investment in a small drug company backed by Columbus Nova, and with regard to opioid lawsuits. (Más)

Mistakes were made. Joseph Jimenez, who served as chief executive of the Basel, Switzerland-based drug giant Novartis for eight years, says that he takes full responsibility for the company's decision to hire Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former lawyer, through a $1.2 million consulting agreement. But during a 15-minute interview, Jimenez grappled with exactly what went wrong and what he could have done differently. “I brought him into the company, so I would … we as a company were looking for people who could help us on policy,” Jimenez says when asked if the decision to hire Cohen was his. “I'm accountable for everything that happened so, yes. I'm accountable for everything that happened at Novartis over my eight years.” 
Jimenez emphasizes that his successor, current Novartis chief executive Vas Narasimhan, was not involved in the decision to hire Cohen, and that Cohen never provided lobbying services or made introductions to other people in the Trump administration. Instead, he says, Cohen's contracting was handled by Novartis' legal team without the involvement of anyone who could have second-guessed the chief executive's decision to bring the former Trump Organization lawyer on board.(Más)