Wyeth Losing CFO Martin

Wyeth(WYE) said Friday that Chief Financial Officer and Vice Chairman Kenneth Martin will leave in June, adding to a string of CFO departures among Big Pharma companies in the last 12 months.

Martin, 53, who had been financial chief since 2000, will "pursue personal interests," Wyeth said in a brief press release. The company will name a new CFO before Martin leaves.

Lately, a number of chief financial officers have been exiting giant drugmakers for unspecified personal reasons or retirement. In February, Merck (MRK) said Judy Lewent, 58, its CFO for 17 years, would retire in July.

After Lewent and Martin leave, no U.S. Big Pharma company will have had a CFO serving for more than five years. The longest-tenured CFO will be Andrew Bonfield, 44, of Bristol-Myers Squibb(BMY), who started in September 2002.

Other recent changes in the CFO ranks include Dominic Caruso, who took over the job Jan. 1 at Johnson & Johnson(JNJ), succeeding Robert Darretta, who retired after nine years as CFO and 38 years at the company. Caruso had been vice president of J&J's group finance unit.

At Eli Lilly(LLY), Derica Rice, formerly the controller, moved up to CFO 12 months ago when Charles Golden retired after serving 10 years as chief financial officer.

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