Teva Eyes Brazil, China

Israel’s drug giant Teva wants elbow room —new markets abroad, and Brazil and China top the list, Globes reports.

“We look to expand our geographic footprint where we feel that there are markets that we’re not present in,” said CEO Jeremy Levin at a conference held by investment house Canaccord Genuity.

“And you should know we’re not present in places like Brazil in any meaningful way. We’re not present yet in the large expanding markets of China in any meaningful way.”

Levin said that Teva was looking for acquisitions or strategic alliances in these markets, but added, “I am not looking to do large acquisitions to penetrate these marketplaces. What I’m looking for is to find the right partners to work for.” He stressed that “the old strategy of acquiring topline is no longer our strategy… we look to improve our portfolio of medicines.”

Levin stressed Teva’s long-term partnership with Procter and Gamble in non-prescription, over-the-counter drugs. “That alliance is about a $1.4 billion alliance at this stage. It’s growing exceptionally well,” he said.

Dr. Michael R. Hayden, President of Global Research and Development and Chief Scientific Officer at Teva, told the conference that Teva’s NTE (new therapeutic entities) activity was focused on pain treatment and neuropsychiatry.

Hayden promised that Teva would provide more detailed information about NTE in the near future.

Levin said that the potential for NTE drugs was around $1 billion annually.

Teva is traded in New York and Tel Aviv with a market cap of $33.7 billion.

This article appeared in print on page 7 of the August 19th, 2013 edition of Hamodia.