Eastbourne Capital Management, which along with Carl Icahn has
been in a contentious dispute with management at Amylin
Pharmaceuticals Inc. (AMLN), said it and the billionaire investor
have succeeded in getting directors elected to the drug maker's
board.
It wasn't clear how many of the five contested seats they won;
however, a source familiar with the situation but not associated
with Amylin, Icahn or the proxy solicitor said Eastbourne and Icahn
appear to have taken two seats while three others were too close to
call.
Calls to Amylin and Icahn weren't immediately returned. A press
release from Eastbourne said a preliminary report on the results is
expected in one to two weeks.
Amylin's shares recently traded at $11.82, up 6.9%. The stock
price has lost more than two-thirds of its value since August.
Icahn has protested the steep drop in Amylin's share price that
began when news of patient deaths led the Food and Drug
Administration to start working with Amylin and marketing partner
Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) to add stronger warnings about severe
pancreatitis to the label of diabetes-drug Byetta.
Amylin has said its board candidates are better suited to
exploit the potential of its proposed diabetes drug Exenatide LAR,
a new version of Byetta that would be taken once a week rather than
injected twice a day. Approval is being sought from the FDA for
Exenatide LAR, a potential blockbuster drug.
Icahn and Eastbourne, working separately, each nominated five
directors for Amylin's 12-member board earlier this year. Then,
fears that gaining a majority of the board would trigger a "poison
put" on some of the company's debt forced the two to work together,
and they eventually settled on three of Eastbourne's nominees and
two of Icahn's.
The dissidents have gotten strong support from well-known proxy
advisory firms, which hold a major influence on shareholders.
Before the meeting, the Icahn/Eastbourne slate also won the
backing of P. Schoenfeld & Associates, which owned 2.1 million
Amylin shares as of the end of the first quarter. The hedge-fund
company said Amylin has mismanaged cash flow and the marketing of
Byetta. It also took issue with the "poison put" provision in
Amylin's debt covenants that could force the company to immediately
pay off certain debt if a majority of Amylin's board is
replaced.
Last month, Amylin reported a narrower first-quarter loss as
revenue slid 1.8%. The company said it restructured its Byetta
operations with Lilly and amended their collaboration agreement to
require a one-year notice for termination without cause, up from
the previous six-month notice.
-By Kathy Shwiff, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5975;
Kathy.Shwiff@dowjones.com