Strong Medicine (71 page)

They met-just the two of them-in the president's office suite. The sight of

a new tenant in quarters which until so recently had been occupied by Sam

was a poignant reminder to Celia of her grief at Sam's death, which she

still had difficulty accepting.

Speaking carefully with his well-bred New England accent, the elderly

O'Halloran said, "I would like you to know, Mrs. Jordan, that I was not one

of those adamantly opposed to your becoming president. I'll be equally

honest in admitting I did not support your candidacy, but would have gone

along with a majority in your favor, had that been possible. I even went so

far as to inform the other board members of that."

"I'm interested to know you regard that as 'going far,' " Celia

acknowledged, with a touch of acidity she could not resist.

"Touch0" The old man smiled and she thought: at least he has a sense of

humor.

"All right, Mr. O'Halloran," she continued briskly, "so both of us know

where we stand, and I appreciate that. What I need from you, in addition,

are instructions on how you wish me to operate, and our division of

duties."

"My close friends call me Snow." Again a wry smile. "The name originates

from a misspent youth when I did a great deal of skiing. I'd be glad to

have you use it, and perhaps I may call you Celia."

"Okay-you Snow, me Celia," Celia said. "Now let's lay out how we work." She

knew she was being bitchy, but didn't care.

"That's easy. I would like you to carry on exactly as you have until

now-and I am aware that is with great competence and resourcefulness."

"And you, Snow? What will you be doing while I'm being competent and

resourceful?"

He chided her gently, "The president does not have to account to the

executive vice president, Celia. It is the other way around. However, so

there is no misunderstanding between us, let me con-

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cede that my knowledge of the pharmaceutical business is in no way

comparable with yours, in fact far less. What I do know a great deal

about-almost certainly more than you-is company finance. It is an area

needing special attention at this time. Therefore reviewing money matters

is how I shall spend most of the six months, or less, I will be occupying

this chair."

Celia admitted to herself that she had been dealt with courteously and

with patience. She said, more pleasantly than earlier, "Thank you, Snow,

I'll do my best to keep up my end of that arrangement."

"I'm sure you will."

The new president did not come into the office every day, but when he did

he developed a financial master plan for Felding-Roth, covering the next

five years, which Seth Feingold described to Celia as "a gem, a real

contribution."

The comptroller added, "The old codger may need a cane to walk, but not

for his mind, which is still sharp as a razor blade."

At the same time, Celia came to appreciate O'Halloran herselfhis support

of everything she did, and his unfailing courtesy. He was truly, in an

outmoded description she remembered, "a gentleman of the old school."

Consequently she was sorry, in the last week of January, 1978, to leam

of his confinement to bed with influenza, and genuinely sad a week later

when Snow O'Halloran died of a massive coronary occlusion.

This time there was no two-week delay in appointing a successor. The

matter was settled the day after O'Halloran's funeral.

No viable outside candidate had appeared, even though the president pro

tempore had served more than four of his agreed six months.

There was only one possible choice and the board of directors made it,

taking less than fifteen minutes to decide what should have been decided

the previous September: Celia Jordan would become president and chief

executive officer of Felding-Roth.

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10

The raw idea had come to her on the flight back from Hawaii last August.

A remark of Andrew's had triggered it.

He had said to Celia, Lisa and Bruce: "I don't believe a drug should be

taken for anything that isjust uncomfortable or self-limiting. " The

subject was pregnancy. The Montayne disaster, fresh in all their minds,

had prompted the remark.

Andrew had added, advising his own daughter, "When your time comes, don't

you take anything . . . And if you want a sound, healthy baby-no liquor,

wine, or smoking either. "

Those words were the foundation of what Celia was now ready to propose

as a fixed company policy. She had a name for what she planned: the

Felding-Roth Doctrine.

She had considered bringing the idea forward sooner, during her time as

executive vice president, but decided against it for fear of being

overruled.

Even after her appointment as president she waited, biding her time,

knowing that what she intended would require approval of the board of

directors.

Now, seven months later, in September, she was prepared to move.

Bill Ingram, recently promoted to vice president of sales and marketing,

had helped with the wording of the Felding-Roth Doctrine, of which the

draft introduction read:

FELDIN(3-ROTH PHARMACEUTICALS INCORPORATED

solemnly pledges:

Article 1: This company will never research, manufac-

ture, distribute, or market directly or indirectly, any pharma-

ceutical product intended for use by women during pregnancy

and aimed at treating any natural, self-limiting condition, such

as nausea and sickness, relating to a normal pregnancy.

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Article 2: Felding-Roth will actively advocate, in all ways open to it,

that no pregnant woman shall have prescribed for her, or shall obtain and

use directly, during a normal pregnancy, any such product as described in

Article I and ofiginating elsewhere.

Article 3: Felding-Roth will advise pregnant women to avoid the use of all

prescription and non-prescription drugsits own and those of other

companies-throughout their pregnancies, except those drugs prescribed by

a physician for exceptional medical needs.

Article 4: Felding-Roth will further actively advocate that pregnant women

abstain, throughout their pregnancies, from the use of alcoholic

beverages, including wine, and from cigarette and other smoking, including

the inhalation of smoke from other persons . . .

There was more. Another reference to physicians was includedin part to

uphold the advisory-trust relationship between doctor and patient; also as

a sop to doctors who, as prescribers, were Felding-Roth's best customers.

There were references to special conditions, such as medical emergencies,

where the use of drugs might be essential or overriding.

As Bill Ingram put it, "The whole thing makes more sense, Celia, than

anything I've read in a long time. Someone in this business should have

done it years ago."

Ingram, who had voted against Celia and for Montayne at the critical

meeting prior to her resignation, had been penitent and uneasy at the time

of her return to Felding-Roth. Several weeks later he had admitted, "I've

been wondering if, after all that happened, you want me working here at

all."

"The answer is yes," Celia told him. "I know how you work, also that I can

trust and rely on you. As to what's past, you made a mistake in judgment,

which all of us do at times. It was bad luck that it turned out to be a

mistake with awful consequences, but you weren't alone, and I imagine

you've learned from the experience." "Oh, have I learned! And suffered,

too, wishing I'd had the intelligence and guts to stick with you."

"Don't necessarily stick with me," she advised. "Not even now. There'll be

times when I'll be wrong, and if you think I am, I want to hear about it."

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After Celia's elevation to the presidency, there was a restructuring of

duties, along with several promotions. Bill Ingram's was among them. He

was already doing well in his new senior post.

Celia, now a full-fledged member of the board of directors, prepared

carefully for the meeting which would consider her proposed Felding-Roth

Doctrine.

Bearing in mind what Sam once told her about his problems with the board,

and remembering the resistance there had been, years before, to Sam's

controversial plan for a British research institute, Celia expected

opposition.

To her surprise, there was little, almost none.

One member of the board-Adrian Caston, who was chairman of a financial

trust group and a cautious thinker--did ask, "Is it wise or necessary to

block ourselves off permanently from a field of medicine which, at some

future time, might see new and safer developments of a highly profitable

nature?"

They were meeting in the boardroom at company headquarters, and Celia

answered, looking down the long walnut table, "Mr. Caston, I believe that

is exactly what we should do. We should do it because we will also be

blocking ourselves, and others who succeed us here, from the temptation,

the chance, and the risk of involving this company with another

Montayne."

There was an attentive silence as she continued. "Memories fade quickly.

Many young women now at the age of motherhood do not remember

Thalidomide, indeed have never heard of it. In a few more years, that

will be equally true of Montayne, at which point pregnant women will

again take anything their doctors prescribe. But if it happens, let us

have no part of it, remembering that the entire history of influencing,

by drugs, the normal course of pregnancy has been burdened with disaster.

~ "Time and experience have demonstrated pregnancy as the single health

condition which is best left to nature alone. At Felding-Roth we are

living with a pregnancy-drug disaster, paying dearly for it now. For the

future we will do better-morally and financially-to seek our profits

elsewhere and urge others to do likewise."

Clinton Etheridge, a veteran director and lawyer, from whom Celia had

expected antagonism, then spoke in her support.

"Speaking of profits, I like Mrs. Jordan's idea of turning our Montayne

debacle into a commercial advantage. In case the rest of you haven't

noticed, this so-called doctrine"-the director held it

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up-"is damned clever. It's a smart piece of merchandising promotion for

the other drugs we sell. It will have a strong dollar value, as I think

we'll find in time."

Inwardly Celia winced, then reminded herself that support was worth

having, even if for wrong reasons. She also wondered about Etheridge,

whom she knew to be a friend and ally of Vincent Lord's, and who

sometimes brought the research director's viewpoints to board meetings,

as Sam had discovered long ago. Lord knew about the Felding-Roth

Doctrine, was aware it would be considered today, and he and Etheridge

would almost certainly have discussed it. So . . . was the support she

was now receiving a remote way of Lord's acknowledging to Celia his

regrets about Montayne? She supposed she would never know.