SUMMIT, N.J. -- Mylan Inc. Chief Executive Officer Robert Coury yesterday told shareholders stung by the Cecil-based generic drug maker's depressed stock price to "hang in there."

Mr. Coury fielded questions at the company's annual meeting from several shareholders who were concerned about the recent drop in the stock price.

"You can't just build up a company and forget about shareholders in the short term," one angry investor told Mr. Coury, adding that he has taken a big hit on the thousands of shares he owns.

Mr. Coury said shareholders will have to be patient and allow time for the expected benefits of the blockbuster $6.8 billion acquisition of Merck Generics in October to take hold. This year will be a year of transition, Mr. Coury said.

"If you hang in there, I think you will be extremely pleased."

Mylan shares finished yesterday at $12.96, up 7 cents. They are down 8 percent this year and have fallen 42 percent since the Merck acquisition was announced May 14.

At last year's shareholders meeting, Mylan Chairman Milan Puskar gave investors concerned about the falling stock price a similar pep talk, telling them to "keep the faith."

Mylan lost $1.38 billion, or $5.04 cents per share, in the quarter ended Dec. 31 on acquisition-related costs. Benefits of the Merck transaction, which vaulted Mylan to a global player, will take time to emerge, Mr. Coury said.

"We have never been more optimistic about Mylan's future than we are today," he said in prepared remarks.

But Gloria Mankonen, treasurer for an investment club in Bridgeport, W.Va., that owns 200 Mylan shares, said she was tired of waiting for a rebound and asked when the dividend would be restored. Mylan suspended the dividend in May to conserve cash for the Merck acquisition.

"You talk as though everything is great with Mylan," Ms. Mankonen said, noting that the club's Mylan holdings are down an average of 50 percent.

Mr. Coury told her to "try to grasp" that Merck, a company twice Mylan's size, will enable Mylan to deliver better long-term earnings growth.

"It doesn't happen over night," he said.

Ms. Mankonen said after the meeting that she showed up to help club members decide whether to hold or sell their Mylan shares.

Mr. Coury "did not really answer my questions," she said. "It's a shame. We've owned the stock for eight to 10 years."

The club was to hold a meeting in Morgantown yesterday to decide what to do, she said.

"We see the company's high debt, which is a real red flag," she said.

The annual meeting, at the Grand Summit Hotel outside Newark, N.J., was sparsely attended, unlike prior shareholder meetings in Pittsburgh or Morgantown, where several hundred shareholders attended. Mylan has not said why the meeting was moved from its traditional location.

Mr. Coury declined to speak with the Post-Gazette after the meeting, citing other commitments. The company has not responded to Post-Gazette inquiries since the newspaper published a story Dec. 21 questioning the academic credentials of Mylan Chief Operating Officer Heather Bresch.

An investigative panel this week concluded that officials at West Virginia University awarded an M.B.A. degree to Ms. Bresch in October that she did not earn. Ms. Bresch is the daughter of West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin and longtime friend and former business associate of WVU President Michael Garrison.

The five-member panel found officials falsified Ms. Bresch's transcript to make it appear she finished the graduate degree. Ms. Bresch has said she earned the degree in news releases, Securities and Exchange Commission documents and in testimony before Congress.

Following the panel's report, WVU said it would rescind the degree. No one at yesterday's meeting brought up the matter.