Valeant not going bankrupt, says drugmaker's chief

New York

DAYS after his surprise return from medical leave, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc chief executive officer Michael Pearson gathered his senior managers at the company's New Jersey offices to deliver a message: The drugmaker's businesses were still mostly doing well, and Valeant was not going to go bankrupt.

"There is no other big shoe to drop that I am aware of," Mr Pearson told attendees at the March 2 meeting, according to a person who participated in the session. "To the best of my knowledge we are not sitting on any other big issues."

It had been a wild six months. The stock is down about 75 per cent since its August peak, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating, an internal board probe is looking into the company's business practices, and Mr Pear…