Lilly CEO’s pay jumps 54 percent in first full year as drug maker’s leader

Lechleiter pay rises in 1st full year as Lilly CEO

INDIANAPOLIS — Eli Lilly and Co. CEO John Lechleiter received a compensation package valued at $16.4 million for 2009, up 54 percent from 2008, the year he became the drug maker’s chief executive, according to an Associated Press calculation of figures disclosed Monday in a regulatory filing.

Also president and chairman, his salary rose nearly 11 percent to $1.48 million and his performance-related cash bonus jumped 31 percent to $3.55 million.

Lechleiter, 56, also was granted stock valued at $11.25 million when it was awarded in February 2009. He won’t receive $3.75 million of that total until 2011, spokesman Mark Taylor said.

Lilly makes top selling drugs including the anti-psychotic Zyprexa and the antidepressant Cymbalta. Lechleiter took over as CEO from Sidney Taurel on April 1, 2008.

Lechleiter’s salary and bonus rose in part because 2009 was his first full year as CEO. The company’s 2008 performance also played a role, according to a preliminary proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Lechleiter successfully took over from Taurel and “aggressively expanded” Lilly’s product portfolio by completing the acquisition of cancer drug maker ImClone Systems Inc., the proxy said. He also reduced management layers and “implemented wide-ranging productivity improvements.”

Of the equity awards valued at $11.25 million, Lechleiter will receive a total valued at $7.5 million based on the company’s 2009 performance. The remainder, which he receives in 2011, will be based on Lilly’s performance last year and in 2010.

Taylor said the value of the awards Lechleiter actually receives can change by the time he gets them, depending on company performance.

Lechleiter also received $89,000 to match his savings plan contribution and $1,091 to reimburse him for taxes due on expenses covered by the company for his wife to attend company functions.

Lilly shares fell 11 percent last year to close 2009 at $35.71. Many health care stocks rose and sank through the year in reaction to a Congressional debate over a possible health care system overhaul.

Lilly earned $4.33 billion last year, as revenue rose 7 percent to $21.8 billion. Eight of the company’s drugs rang up more than $1 billion in sales, led by Zyprexa’s $4.9 billion.

But analysts also have expressed concern about Lilly’s ability to fill looming revenue holes that will be created when the patents protecting several key drugs expire in the next few years. Zyprexa’s patent expires next year.

The company launched the blood thinner Effient in the U.S. last summer, but the drug’s performance so far has left several analysts unimpressed. Effient gained only $3.8 million in sales in the fourth quarter, as the company worked to introduce it to doctors and hospitals.

The Associated Press calculations of total pay include executives’ salary, bonus, incentives, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year. The calculations don’t include changes in the present value of pension benefits, and they sometimes differ from the totals companies list in the summary compensation table of proxy statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.