Biovail and Melnyk continue to spar after vote

By Lisa Kerner

Charlotte, N.C., June 25 - Biovail Corp. said its slate of director nominees received support from over 97% of the 56.7 million of its outstanding common shares that were voted at its annual meeting on June 25.

"These results speak for themselves and serve as a clear mandate to move forward with the execution of our new strategic focus," Biovail said in a news release.

Biovail called company founder Eugene Melnyk's decision to withdraw his proxies at the last minute an effort to "frustrate the meeting."

Melnyk and his group, the Concerned Shareholders of Biovail, planned to go to court to seek a declaration that the Biovail annual meeting was illegally held and request that a proper meeting be convened, a statement released by Melnyk said.

According to Melnyk, Biovail would not have a quorum without Melnyk's shares so the company secretly met "to change the rules to suit their purposes" and prevented Biovail shareholders from reconsidering their position.

Biovail, a Toronto biopharmaceutical company, said that the 6.3 million shares revoked prior to the meeting were a correction of a clerical error related to an overvote situation by a financial institution, not a "shift in momentum" as claimed by Melnyk.

Melnyk noted that he and former Biovail chief executive officer Bruce Brydon were postponing the formation of their new pharmaceutical company, Trimel Pharmaceutical Inc., in favor of implementing the plan outlined by the shareholder group in its proxy circular.

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