Elan chief Kelly Martin to leave

Kelly Martin will step down from his post as chief executive of Elan Corporation in 2012 and leave the Irish drugs manufactuer in 2013, the company said yesterday.

Elan said it had changed Mr Martin's contract from "an open-ended agreement to a fixed-term agreement" which will see the former Merrill Lynch executive, who was hired in 2003, vacate the chief executive's chair in May 2012, and then continue as an executive adviser to the board until the end of January 2013.

Mr Martin's tenure has been marked by tensions about spending levels and his handling of the development of Tysabri, a treatment for multiple sclerosis, and the Alzheimer's drug Bapineuzumab.