TRENTON, N.J. ? The other shoe finally dropped at drugmaker Merck & Co.

With lawsuits mounting, revenues, profit and stock price all down sharply since it recalled its blockbuster painkiller Vioxx, and its top drug losing patent protection, Merck on Thursday replaced longtime CEO and chairman Raymond V. Gilmartin.

Richard T. Clark, head of Merck’s manufacturing operations, was named president and chief executive, but how much power he will wield is in question. Merck’s board chose to go without a chairman for up to two years, giving those duties to a new, three-member executive committee headed by heavyweight board member Lawrence Bossidy, former CEO of Honeywell International Inc.

David Moskowitz, analyst at Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co., said Clark did a good job making Merck’s manufacturing more efficient. Moskowitz criticized having three board members overseeing Clark.

“It is almost has if he has training wheels on,” Moskowitz said.

Scott R. Henry, analyst at Oppenheimer & Co., called the setup odd and said it appeared Bossidy, who dominated conference calls with Clark, reporters and analysts Thursday, was taking a very prominent role.

Bossidy will be chairman of the new executive committee, which includes longtime board members William G. Bowen and Samuel O. Their.

“I’d like to see one person hang their hat there and say, ‘If something goes wrong, I’m responsible,'” Henry said.

Three corporate management experts said they had never before heard of such a triumvirate arrangement.