Lilly names new president and chief executive officer

Lilly has announced that Dr John Lechleiter is to step down as its president and chief executive officer (CEO) on December 31st 2016.

Dr Lechleiter, who has led the company since April 2008, will remain as chairman of the company in a non-executive capacity until May 31st 2017, at which point he will also relinquish his board membership.

To succeed him, the firm's board has unanimously elected David Ricks, currently senior vice-president and president of Lilly Bio-Medicines, to take on the president and CEO role and to join the board from January 1st 2017, becoming chairman on June 1st that year.

Mr Ricks has been with Lilly since 1996 and has served in a number of key roles of escalating responsibility since that time. His successor as president of Lilly Bio-Medicines will be announced at a later date.

The incoming CEO said: "We must focus on delivering better and better medicines to the patients who need them, and in so doing benefit our employees, communities and shareholders alike."

This comes after Lilly reported year-on-year revenue growth of nine percent for the second quarter of 2016 earlier this week.