INDIANAPOLIS -- John Lechleiter takes over as Eli Lilly's CEO on April 1, succeeding Sidney Taurel, 59, who is retiring.

Lechleiter inherits a Fortune 500 company that earned nearly $3 billion last year but will lose patent protection for its best-selling drug, the anti-psychotic Zyprexa, in three years.

Meanwhile, the drugmaker is battling a slumping stock price and, like other pharmaceutical companies, faces growing government regulation and competition from generic products.

Lechleiter, a Harvard-trained chemist, was most recently the company's chief operating officer.

He becomes Lilly's ninth leader in 131 years, capping a career that began nearly 30 years ago in research labs.

Taurel will remain chairman of the board through the end of the year.