LAVAL, Que. - Valeant Pharmaceuticals Inc. (TSX:VRX) has appointed Paul Herendeen as its new chief financial officer, effective immediately, and reassigned the man who has been its CFO through a tumultuous period.

Robert Rosiello, who was appointed Valeant's CFO on July 1 of last year will remain at Valeant as executive vice-president for corporate development and strategy, reporting to CEO Joseph Papa, who joined the company in late April.

The Quebec-based company is working to recover from a series of problems that emerged last September and continued into this year, driving down the company's market value by about 90 per cent since last August.

Last week, Valeant's major lenders agreed to give the company more flexibility to sell assets and make additional short-term borrowing as its seeks to reduce its debt load and defends itself from multiple allegations of improper accounting practices.

Herendeen comes to the Laval-based company from Zoetis, a Pfizer spinoff that specializes in animal health, where he was executive vice-president and CFO for two years.

He held the CFO positions at two other pharmaceutical and health-care companies prior to Zoetis. Earlier in his career, Herendeen spent several years in the investment industry.