Lilly Oncology chief resigns

pharmafile | January 27, 2011 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing |  Eli Lilly, John Johnson, Lilly Oncology, appointment, lilly, research and development, sales and marketing 

Lilly has an unexpected search on its hands for someone to lead its oncology business after John Johnson unexpectedly announced he would be stepping down.

Johnson was brought in as president of Lilly Oncology after the company’s 2008 acquisition of ImClone Systems, where he served as chief executive.

“Given his previous post at ImClone, John has played a key role leading the integration efforts since Lilly’s acquisition,” said Lilly chairman, president and chief executive John Lechleiter.

“He has always been a champion of serving patients and has guided the Lilly Oncology pipeline to an all-time high – one of the largest clinical-stage pipelines of potential cancer medicines in the industry.”

Johnson’s resignation is effective from tomorrow and Lilly said a successor would be announced in the coming weeks.

Dominic Tyer