Cephalon's Baldino passes away

Cephalon Inc. (NASDAQ:CEPH) said founder, Chairman and CEO Frank Baldino Jr. died Thursday evening. Baldino, 57, had been on medical leave since August. COO J. Kevin Buchi will continue to assume Baldino's responsibilities in the near term; Cephalon declined to comment on a transition plan at this time.

Baldino founded Cephalon in 1987 and took the neurology and cancer company public in 1991. Spurred by the approval of narcolepsy drug Provigil modafinil in 1998, Cephalon has grown to about 4,000 employees, with a market cap of about $4.9 billion. Baldino also was a longtime member of the board of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO). ...