George Scangos has been given considerable credit for restoring confidence in Biogen Idec ($BIIB) since he took the helm back in the middle of 2010. He restructured the company, trimmed R&D and benefited enormously from the late-stage success of the MS drug BG-12, a legacy of the Jim Mullen era. And with the share price trading at an all-time high, it's not going to surprise many in the industry to see that he earned $11.3 million in total compensation for 2011.
The total includes $1.2 million in salary, a $2.7 million bonus and $4.4 million from the vesting of some valuable stock options, according to the company's proxy statement. Biogen's stock price hit a high of $127.57 this morning, as RBC Capital bullishly reviewed the company's earnings potential from its hemophilia drug.
The rest of the Biogen executive team didn't do so badly in 2011, either. Doug Williams, the head of R&D, nailed a $630,000 salary and a $456,221 bonus; Francesco Granata, the former head of commercial operations who recently joined Warburg Pincus, earned $624,000 plus a $373,200 bonus; and Steven Holtzman, head of corporate development, earned $600,000 and gained a bonus of $392,040.
Of course, even Scangos's compensation pales in comparison to some of the payouts being recorded at Big Pharma companies. J&J's William Weldon, for example, is getting a $143.5 million retirement package as he leaves the company.
- here's the proxy statement
- here's the Dow Jones story