Marty Nicklasson, the executive vice president of global marketing, will be leaving the drugmaker at the end of the month, a company spokeswoman confirmed to Pharmalot.

However, she declined to confirm any changes involving Tony Zook, who is executive vice president for North America. There is chatter that Zook may add Nicklasson’s job.

The change comes as AstraZeneca endures an embarassing scandal over an internal newsletter published by its oncology unit in the Mid-Atlantic region. The company filed a regional sales manager last week after his published remarks circulated on the Internet.

Mike Zubillaga likened a doctor’s office to a “big bucket of money,” setting off a firestorm over the drugmaker’s failure to monitor its own newsletters and charges that AstraZeneca execs, including Zook, are hypocritical for firing him while demanding sales reps increase their call volume.

Zook and ceo Dave Brennan have refused to discuss the matter. Meanwhile, Zubillaga told Pharmalot yesterday that, not surprisingly, the episode has been a “horrible” ordeal, but he declined to discuss the newsletter or the firing.

Nicklasson, 51, joined Astra in 1978 and held a number of research posts through 1988. He left and rejoined in 1991 as head of Astra pain control and was later appointed prez of Astra Hassle in 1996. After a few other posts, he became exec vp of global drug development in 2002, and reached his present spot two years ago. [tags]AstraZeneca, Marty Nicklasson, Mike Zubillaga, Tony Zook[/tags]