Eli Lilly appoints insider Lucas Montarce as new finance chief

U.S. drugmaker Eli Lilly on Monday said it has appointed insider Lucas Montarce as its new chief financial officer, effective immediately, months after former CFO Anat Ashkenazi stepped down to join Google parent Alphabet.

This executive change arrives at a critical juncture for Eli Lilly, as the company invests billions to expand manufacturing capacity and meet soaring demand for its diabetes and weight loss drugs, Mounjaro and Zepbound.

Lilly and Danish rival Novo Nordisk are leaders in the burgeoning market for new weight loss drugs, which some analysts project could exceed $150 billion by the early 2030s.

Shares of the company rose 1% to $910 in premarket trading. The Indianapolis-based drugmaker is already the world's most valuable healthcare company, primarily due to the high demand for its weight-loss treatments.

Montarce, who joined Lilly in 2001, has held various finance leadership roles, including as the company's head of finance for Lilly Research Laboratories and Lilly International.

Most recently, he served as the president and general manager for Lilly's Spain, Portugal, and Greece hub, a position he assumed earlier this year.

In his new role, Montarce will serve as both CFO and executive vice president, with a base salary of $1 million and eligibility for an annual target bonus of $1 million.

While both Lilly and Novo have struggled to meet the overwhelming demand for their obesity medications, Lilly recently ramped up its manufacturing capacity and raised its annual sales forecast by $3 billion. Novo missed expectations in the latest quarter.

Although Lilly's drugs are now listed as available by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, they remain on the FDA's official shortage list, where they have been for most