Teva Pharmaceutical Industries specializes in generic and proprietary pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients. It is the largest generic drug manufacturer in the world and one of the 15 largest pharmaceutical companies worldwide.
Teva's facilities are located in Israel, North America, Europe, and South America.
On December 23, 2008, Teva acquired Barr Pharmaceuticals for US$7.5 billion, making Barr and Pliva (which Barr bought earlier) part of Teva. On March 18, 2010, Teva announced that it planned to acquire German generic Ratiopharm for US$5 billion. The deal was completed on August 2010.
In May 2011, Teva bought Cephalon for US$6.8 billion. The combined company is expected to have US$7 billion in sales of branded drugs. Shortly after this announcement, Teva announced the ¥40 billion purchase of a majority stake in the Japanese generic drug company Taiyo Pharmaceutical Industry, a move to secure a Japan-local production facility. Teva completed the $934 million acquisition on July 2011.
Teva's close ties with the Israeli scientific community brought it Copaxone, a branded multiple-sclerosis drug that it has sold in the U.S. since 1997. The compound was discovered in 1967 by a scientist at the Weizmann Institute of Science, the research center founded by Israel's first president, who was also a chemist. Immunologist Michael Sela made a compound that seemed to reverse induced paralysis in laboratory guinea pigs, and wondered if it would help the paralysis of multiple-sclerosis patients.
Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News recently released their analysis of the top 25 biotech companies worldwide based on market capitalization at the end of the 2nd quarter of 2012.
Additional information
Forbes
www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2010/06/30/theres-a-lot-to-like-about-teva/
Wall Street Journal
online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303630404577392300168425964.html
YouTube
www.dailymotion.com/video/xiiyde_teva-pharmaceuticals-to-acquire-cephalon_news
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