AbbVie investors agitate for chair-CEO split, flagging bonus pay and Humira hikes

AbbVie investors are calling for a separation of powers in the C-suite, citing Chairman and CEO Richard Gonzalez's outsized pay package and the company's "thicket" of Humira patents. In an SEC filing Monday, AbbVie investor and Rhode Island General Treasurer Seth Magaziner threw his weight behind a shareholder resolution that would split the board chairman and CEO positions after Gonzalez leaves the company. Magaziner ticked off a series of reasons why AbbVie needs more oversight, including the repeated price hikes that have fueled Humira sales growth. He also cited AbbVie's aggressive Humira patenting, a technique that's prolonged the drug's monopoly and spawned at least two court cases. And then there's Gonzalez's $4 million bonus, which drew fire in a recent congressional hearing.