Eli Lilly management restructure

Two senior executives at Eli Lilly will leave the company as it revises its management structure, it has been announced.

Vice president of global regulatory affairs Tim Franson will retire from the company after 22 years, while vice president of medical and chief medical officer Alan Breier is leaving to take up a post at the Indiana University School of Medicine following 11 years at Lilly.

Lilly says the primary change is through the creation of a global regulatory medical and patient safety organisation, a central point of accountability.

Tim Garnett will move from position as vice president of global patient safety to vice president and chief medical officer and will lead this new organisation.

The company is also making massive changes across its management infrastructure in Europe, Japan Africa, the Middle East and the Commonwealth Independent States.

Its European business will be streamlined from four to two areas of responsibility while in the US four divisions are being cut down to two.

Lilly invested 76 million pounds into research and development in the UK; its Liverpool manufacturing facility is the biggest bulk-technology facility in the UK.