| Drug
company Eli Lilly plans to add 2,000 to 3,000
jobs this year
February 19, 2004
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Eli
Lilly and Co. on Thursday said it planned
to add 2,000 to 3,000 employees this year to
its global workforce of more than 43,000 as
it supports the introductions of several new
drugs.
While details about where and when those employees
will be hired are pending, Lilly offered more
specifics than it has previously about its long-range
expansion plans. In 1999, the Indianapolis-based
company released a 10-year expansion plan in
anticipation of supporting a robust pipeline
of new drugs that resulted in introductions
of three drugs last year and four more expected
this year.
"This was anticipated and discussed earlier,"
Lilly spokeswoman Joan Todd said. "But
now that we're doing these unprecedented launches,
we obviously need the support staff in place."
Todd confirmed the employment plans after Lilly's
chief executive, Sidney Taurel, discussed them
earlier Thursday at a conference of CEOs in
Boca Raton, Fla.
The new hires will fill high-wage positions
on Lilly's manufacturing, quality control, marketing
and sales staffs, Todd said.
She could offer no details on how much of the
hiring would be in Lilly's domestic operations
versus overseas. About half of Lilly's 43,600
are located overseas.
In Indiana, Lilly employs about 17,600 - of
those, nearly 15,000 are in Indianapolis. Outside
Indiana, Lilly operates three manufacturing
plants in Puerto Rico and one in Prince William
County, Va.
The company expects revenue to increase to
as much as 10 per cent this year.
Lilly reported last month that its fourth-quarter
profit edged up one per cent as three new drugs
fuelled 17 per cent sales growth that was offset
by higher marketing and manufacturing costs
to support the new medications. For all of 2003,
sales were $12.58 billion US, up 14 per cent
from $11.08 billion in 2002.
The new drugs introduced last year are Strattera
attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder; Cialis,
an erectile dysfunction medication; and Forteo
a drug for osteoporosis.
© The Canadian Press, 2004
source:-http://www3.cjad.com
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