The proxy battle between Biovail founder Eugene Melnyk and the drugmaker’s current management is getting a wee bit personal. Earlier this week, Melnyk, who recently resigned from the board and is now promoting his own slate of directors, charged that Biovail has a ‘dysfunctional board.’ Now, Biovail ceo Bill Wells is taking slap shots at Melnyk, who owns the Ottawa Senators, by the way.

In a letter to shareholders, Wells writes that what Melnyk’s calls ‘the golden years’ are actually the ‘lost years,’ from 2001 to 2007, when he was ceo or chairman. And that most of his proposed directors are not independent because they have or did have business relationships with him.

“What this is all about is Eugene Melnyk trying to take control of the company without paying a premium to other shareholders. It is all about control, that’s all he cares about,” Wells tells Reuters, adding the Melnyk’s dissident plan is “out of touch” with the changing pharmaceutical industry, and was a ploy for Melnyk to make the most of his 12 percent stake.

Melnyk, who started the company about 20 years ago, plans to replace the current board with a slate that would include former ceo Bruce Brydon, and pursue a strategy to broaden the current portfolio beyond the Wellbutrin antidepressant and Cardizem heart drug. But Wells says generics have “run out of gas”, and that Biovail’s current troubles are in large part a legacy of Melnyk’s own influence.

The Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this year accused the Canadian drugmaker and several former and current senior execs, including Melnyk, with engaging in fraudulent accounting schemes and making misstatements to analysts and investors.