Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. was too aggressive in raising prices, outgoing Chief Executive Officer Mike Pearson will tell U.S. senators on Wednesday at a committee hearing to examine the cost of prescription drugs.

“It was a mistake to pursue, and in hindsight I regret pursuing, transactions where a central premise was a planned increase in the prices of the medicines,” Pearson said in prepared testimony for a Senate Special Committee on Aging hearing to be held Wednesday. “The company was too aggressive –- and I, as its leader, was too aggressive –- in pursuing price increases on certain drugs.”

Wednesday’s hearing is the latest in a series by the committee probing the price of prescription drugs in the U.S. and the actions by drugmakers. Along with Pearson, the panel will hear from former Chief Financial Officer Howard Schiller and Bill Ackman, the investor whose Pershing Square Capital Management LP is one of Valeant’s biggest holders. Pershing has two seats on Valeant’s board, and Ackman has been among the company’s biggest defenders.

Recommended For You

Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.

Your access to unlimited BenefitsPRO content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.