Is your retirement fund evaporating with the stock market plunge? Are oil prices causing you to wear more sweaters? Well, consider David Brennan. He had to stomach a drop in compensation to just $4.3 million last year, thanks to a smaller bonus and fewer reimbursements for relocation costs, according to AstraZeneca’s annual report (please see page 106).

The drugmaker paid Brennan nearly $2 million in salary, compared with almost $1.9 million in 2006, and his bonus fell to about $2 million from $2.17 million. Meanwhile, his reimbursements tumbled to $263,000 from $1.34 million, although that is still a great deal. The 54-year-old American, who moved from the US to AZ headquarters in London when he became ceo in January 2006, must be carting an awful lot of possessions across the pond.

It’s all for a good cause, though, isn’t it? AstraZeneca shares fell 21 percent last year, making the drugmaker the second-worst performer in the 13-member Europe Pharmaceutical Index, which declined 12 percent, Bloomberg News notes.