This post has been updated.
Alex Azar, a former pharmaceutical executive and a top health official during the George W. Bush administration, is now the leading candidate to head the Department of Health and Human Services, two Republicans briefed on the matter said Tuesday.
Azar served a decade at Lilly USA, the biggest affiliate of Eli Lilly and Co., including five years as president. He directly led a biomedicines division that covered, among other areas, neuroscience, immunology and cardiology, and was also responsible for the company’s sales and marketing operations.
