TEL AVIV (Reuters) – Teva Pharmaceutical Industries will remain a single company for both generic and branded drugs since generics help to fund research and development of its innovative medicines, Chief Executive Richard Francis said on Tuesday.
Israel-based Teva – the world’s largest generics drug company – expects significant interest in its active pharmaceutical ingredients business that it plans to divest, Francis also said at a news briefing.
As the market for generic drugs has become more competitive, and as Teva has invested more in its own medicines, there has been speculation that Teva would split into two companies.
“From an infrastructure point of view, they complement each other incredibly well,” Francis said, also citing Teva’s collaborations with Israeli universities.
The generics side “allows us to fund a lot of research and development we are doing in our innovative business.”
“It’s a really strong partnership, where we don’t have to go out and seek funding to drive some of this innovation, which many other companies do.”
Teva, Francis noted, is working to make its generic drugs business more effective and efficient.
(Reporting by Steven Scheer; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Bernadette Baum)
