INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Drug maker Eli Lilly and Co. plans to cut up to 500 jobs to streamline manufacturing operations for some insulin products and the osteoporosis drug Forteo (Four-TAY'-OH).
Company spokesman Phil Belt says Lilly offered a voluntary exit program to about 2,000 employees in central Indiana with a goal of trimming its work force by up to 500 people.
Belt says all the cuts will be made through the voluntary program. It includes an enhanced severance package based on an employee's length of service. Belt declined to offer more details.
He says the plan would not involve layoffs.
The move comes a month after the company ended its development program for inhaled insulin. But Belt said Wednesday that productivity improvements were the main driver behind the cuts.
