The witching hour for CEO’s crossing the line?

All of a sudden, life sciences industry executives are getting in hot water in a very public way.

Lars Bildman, is the former CEO of Astra USA (now part of AstraZeneca). Back in the 1990s, he was accused of harassing employees and using company money for personal use. Now AstraZeneca will be recovering nearly $7 million in salary and bonuses paid to Bildman between 1991 and 1996.

In the same week, the former CEO of Intermune in California has been convicted of wire fraud in marketing of the drug Actimmune. A federal jury in San Francisco convicted Scott Harkonen after a seven-week trial. The conviction was founded on a press release that misstated the results of a clinical trial. But in short, the government said the company, led by Harkonen, crossed the line in its off-label marketing of Actimmune and benefited from those revenues. Three years ago, the company reached a financial settlement on the civil claim. Now their CEO at the time faces a potential 20 year sentence following his conviction.

CEO’s beware. October is the witching hour.