Industry Facts

Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly has announced the appointment of two senior positions in its Public Affairs and Communications team.

Robert Ede (right) joins as senior director of Government Affairs and Communications for Northern Europe. Robert has a decade’s experience in healthcare policy, namely at Policy Exchange and MHP Communications. Recently, Robert left the UK Government after having ser ved as special adviser to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care since November 2022. Robert was involved in many major policy initiatives, including the NHS Long-Term Work force Plan; the NHS Productivity Plan; the five-year voluntary scheme for branded medicines (VPAG); and the implementation of the Lord O’Shaughnessy Review into commercial clinical research. In 2021, he served as prize director for the Wolfson Economics Prize on the subject of new hospital design.

James Tyrrell (left) has been appointed as senior director of Communications – Cardiometabolic Health in the International Communications team at Eli Lilly. James has over 20 years’ multi-market expertise building advocacy, coalitions and campaigns that have had a significant effect on the external environment for innovative products across Europe, the US, Middle East and Asia. While at the World Health Organization (WHO), James supported the development of policy and treatment guidelines for venous thromboembolism (VTE) prevention, and the WHO Oral Health Action Plan. James joins Lilly from the public affairs agency APCO Worldw ide, where he led the global health practice ‒ advising clients across government affairs, policy and communications. Prior to APCO, James was co-founder at Insight Consulting Group.

Chris Stokes, president and general manager of Lilly UK and Northern Europe, commented: “I’m delighted to welcome Robert and James to our Lilly team. Their extensive healthcare policy experience will be invaluable to Lilly as we work to deliver innovative treatments to patients at this pivotal time for the life sciences industry.”