Three Novartis Executives to Leave After Eli Lilly and GSK Deals

Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG said three members at its executive committee would leave the company following deals with GlaxoSmithKline and Eli Lilly to be completed in the coming months.

The departing members are George Gunn, Brian McNamara and Andrin Oswald, Novartis said in a statement.

Gunn, who is currently serving as division head at Novartis Animal Health, will reach his contractual retirement age in July 2015, and will retire from the company.

back in April the company announced a number of transactions worth more than $25bn. It is selling its animal health business to US drugmaker Eli Lilly for $5.4bn in a transaction that is expected to be settled in the first quarter of 2015.

The company also agreed to sell its vaccines business, excluding flu vaccines, to Britain's GSK for $7.1bn. The deal is expected to be completed in the first half of 2015. With GSK, the company will form a joint venture for its over-the-counter (OTC) unit.

Novartis earlier said these divisions are not vital for the company, as they lacked the global scale.

Last week, EU antitrust regulators approved Lilly's purchase of the animal health division from Novartis.

McNamara, currently division head at Novartis OTC, will transition to GSK as head of Americas and Europe for the consumer health businesses, effective at closing of the transaction with UK drugmaker.

Meanwhile, Oswald, currently division head at Novartis Vaccines, will be leaving Novartis to pursue other opportunities.