UPDATE 1-Lilly snags AstraZeneca executive as new R&D head

* Lundberg to replace retiring Lilly R&D head Paul

* Quitting Astra immediately, will join Lilly in new year

NEW YORK Nov 13 (Reuters) - Eli Lilly and Co (LLY.N: 行情) has snagged AstraZeneca Plc's (AZN.L: 行情) head of drug discovery as its new research head, underscoring the battle for talent in the pharmaceutical industry.

Jan Lundberg will join Lilly in Indianapolis as early as January 2010, ahead of the retirement of current research and development chief Steven Paul at the end of February, the U.S. drugmaker said on Friday.

AstraZeneca said Lundberg was leaving immediately and would be replaced on an interim basis by Christer Koehler, its head of central nervous system and pain drug discovery.

Lundberg, a former professor at Sweden's Karolinska Institute with 10 years experience at AstraZeneca, joins Lilly at a challenging time, ahead of the patent expiration on its Zyprexa schizophrenia drug.

Sales of $5 billion-a-year Zyprexa are expected to plunge after its U.S. patent lapses in October 2011 and Lilly's Gemzar cancer treatment will face generic competition a year from now, setting the stage for the company's long-feared "patent cliff."

Chief Executive John Lechleiter, however, told the Reuters Health Summit this week the company was "adequately positioned" to deal with the looming challenge, thanks to growing sales of other drugs and a pipeline of new ones in late-stage development. [ID:nN09282697] (Reporting by Ben Hirschler, editing by Dave Zimmerman)