Lilly promotes Taurel to president and chief operating officer, and Watanabe to executive vice president, science and technology.

announced today that it has promoted Sidney Taurel to the position of president and chief operating officer and August M. Watanabe, M.D., to the position of executive vice president, science and technology. Taurel was formerly executive vice president of Eli Lilly and Company and president of the pharmaceutical division and Watanabe was vice president of Eli Lilly and Company and president of Lilly Research Laboratories.

Both Taurel and Watanabe serve on the company's board of directors.

Commenting on these appointments, Randall L. Tobias, Lilly chairman of the board and chief executive officer, said, "Both promotions simply reflect more appropriately the roles and responsibilities currently being carried out by Sidney and Gus. At the same time, they reflect my confidence in each of them and in the leadership that each is providing for the corporation."

Taurel has been executive vice president of Eli Lilly and Company and president of the company's pharmaceutical division since January 1993. He has served as a member of the board of directors since July 1991 and is currently a member of the company's policy committee and chairman of the company's operations committee. Now an American citizen, Taurel was born in Casablanca, Morocco, and graduated from Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales in Paris, France, in 1969. He received a master of business administration degree from Columbia University in 1971, before joining Eli Lilly International Corporation as a marketing associate. He was promoted to marketing plans manager in Brazil the following year.

In 1976, Taurel returned to Europe where he held several marketing and sales assignments in eastern Europe and France. He became general manager of the company's affiliate in Brazil in 1981 and was later transferred to London where he was appointed vice president of Lilly European operations in 1983. In 1986, Taurel was named president of Eli Lilly International Corporation. He became executive vice president of the pharmaceutical division in July 1991.

Taurel is a member of the board and treasurer of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). He is also a member of the PhRMA Foundation Board, the board of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the board of overseers of the Columbia Business School, and the board of the RCA Tennis Championships. In addition, he serves on the board of trustees of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.

Taurel lives in Indianapolis with his wife and three children.

Watanabe was named vice president of Eli Lilly and Company and president of Lilly Research Laboratories, effective January 1994. He is a member of the board of directors and of the company's policy and operations committees. He had been group vice president of Lilly Research Laboratories, responsible for all areas of discovery research, since July 1992.

Watanabe received his doctor of medicine degree from the Indiana University School of Medicine in 1967. He took post-doctoral training in internal medicine and cardiology at Indiana University Medical Center and post-doctoral training in clinical pharmacology at the National Institutes of Health.

Prior to joining Lilly, Watanabe was a member of the faculty of the Indiana University School of Medicine from 1972 to 1990; he became professor of medicine in 1978. In 1983, he was named John B. Hickam professor and chairman of the department of medicine, a position he held until 1990, when he joined Lilly as vice president of Lilly Research Laboratories, responsible for cardiovascular, pulmonary, diabetes and skeletal discovery research programs. He retains an academic appointment as professor of medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine.

Watanabe is the author of more than 100 scientific publications, many on fundamental cardiac cell physiology and pharmacology. He has written numerous book chapters in the field of cardiology and is an editor of Kelley's Textbook of Internal Medicine. He also serves on the editorial boards of several major journals in pharmacology and cardiology and is active in many international scientific organizations. He is board certified in internal medicine and cardiovascular diseases; serves as a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American College of Cardiology; and is a member of the board of directors of the Indiana University Foundation, the Indiana State Symphony, the Park Tudor Foundation, and the Regenstrief Foundation.

Watanabe lives in Indianapolis with his wife and has three children.

Lilly is a global research-based pharmaceutical corporation headquartered in Indianapolis, Ind., dedicated to creating superior health care solutions--combining pharmaceutical innovation, existing pharmaceutical technology, disease prevention and management, and information technologies--in order to provide customers worldwide with optimal clinical and economic outcomes.

CONTACT: Eli Lilly & Company, Indianapolis

Edward A. West, 317/276-3655