, Jerusalem
Salomon, Levin, and Elstein Teva's earliest predecessor was SLE, Ltd., a wholesale drug business founded in 1901 in
Ottoman Empire's Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem. SLE Ltd. took its name from the initials of its three cofounders: Chaim Salomon, Moshe Levin and Yitschak Elstein, and used
camels to make deliveries. During the 1930s, new immigrants from Europe founded several pharmaceutical companies including Teva and Zori. In the 1930s, Salomon, Levin, and Elstein Ltd. also founded Assia, a pharmaceutical company. Friedländer's business philosophy opined that the pharmaceutical industry has a reliable basis in difficult economic times, since "A Jewish mother will always buy medicine for her children". In the
Second World War, the company provided medicine to the allied forces and in particular to the
British army present in the
Middle East. After the war, Sir
Alan Gordon Cunningham, the last of the
High Commissioners for Palestine and Transjordan, visited Teva on behalf of the
Secretary of State for the Colonies. His visit promoted Teva's reputation in the pharmaceutical market and created a momentum for Teva's development. During
Mandatory Palestine, Teva exported its medical products to Arab countries. In 1941, Friedländer presented Teva products in an
exhibition held in
Cairo,
Egypt. The exhibition was sponsored by the General Agent and Sole Distribution of
medicine in
Egypt and
Sudan,
Syria and
Lebanon. Later on, Teva exported its products to the
US,
Soviet Union (
USSR), health institutes in
Denmark,
Czechoslovakia,
Persia and
Burma.
1950–1999 In 1951, Feuchtwanger initiated an
initial public offering to raise capital through the newly founded
Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange and Teva became a
public company. In 1976, the three companies merged into the modern-day Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. In 1982, Teva was granted approval by the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its
Kfar Saba manufacturing plant. In 1995, Teva acquired
Biogal Gyógyszergyár Rt. (
Debrecen,
Hungary) and acquired ICI (
Italy).
2000-2009 In 2000, Teva acquired Canada-based
Novopharm. In October 2003, Teva announced its intentions to acquire Sicor Inc. for $3.4 billion. Following the announcement, the acquisition was completed on January 22, 2004, which marked Teva's entry into
biosimilars' market. In 2005, Teva opened a new, state-of-the-art pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in
Har Hotzvim, a technology park in
Jerusalem. The plant received FDA approval in early 2007. In January 2006, Teva acquired its U.S. rival
Ivax Corporation for $7.4 billion. In 2008, sales totalled $11.08 billion, $13.9 billion in 2009, and in 2010 total sales rose to $16.1 billion, of which a major portion was in Europe and North America. In July 2008, Teva announced it completed the acquisition of Bentley Pharmaceuticals for its generic pharmaceutical operations in Spain for $360 million in cash. On December 23, 2008, Teva acquired
Barr Pharmaceuticals for $7.5 billion, making Barr and
Pliva (which Barr bought earlier) part of Teva. In June 2013, Teva acquired US firm MicroDose Therapeutx for $40 million with as much as $125 million being paid in regulatory and developmental milestones In 2010, Teva announced that it would build its main distribution center for the Americas in Philadelphia, PA, and was considering opening its US headquarters in the area. an effort that in 2013 received $1.5 billion in funding from Israel's
Office of the Chief Scientist. In May 2011, Teva announced it would purchase
Cephalon for US$6.8 billion. In January 2014, Teva acquired
NuPathe, after outbidding
Endo, for $144 million. the aim being to strengthen the company's migraine pipeline through addition of LBR-101, an anti-
CGRP monoclonal antibody therapeutic. In March 2015, Teva acquired
Auspex Pharmaceuticals for $3.5 billion growing its CNS portfolio. In April, Teva offered to acquire
Mylan for $40 billion, only a fortnight after Mylan offered to buy
Perrigo for $29 billion. Teva's offer for Mylan was contingent on Mylan abandoning its pursuit of Perrigo. Mylan stated in June 2015 that Teva's disclosure that it had a 1.35 percent stake in Mylan violated
US antitrust rules. In October, the company acquired Mexico-based Representaciones e Investigaciones Medicas (Rimsa) for around $2.3 billion. In the same month Teva acquired
Gecko Health Innovations. In November 2015, the company announced it would collaborate with
Heptares Therapeutics with its work on small-molecule
calcitonin gene-related peptide
antagonists for migraine treatment, with the deal generating up to $410 million.
Teva Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (TAPI) operates within Teva as a stand-alone business unit. In 2009, TAPI's sales to third parties totaled $565 million, and in 2010 sales rose by 13% to a total of $641 million. In July 2017, it was reported that
Pascal Soriot, CEO of
AstraZeneca since 2012, would become the next CEO of Teva, succeeding Erez Vigodman, however this was soon refuted. As of August 2017, the company has struggled to attract a new CEO, leading to mounting questions for the board. In August 2017, the board of directors announced a 75% cut in the dividend, reflecting declining profitability, and the share price fell by almost half in the days following. As of September 11, 2017, Teva remained the "world's biggest seller of generics medicines." On September 11, 2017, it was reported that they had selected
Kåre Schultz as the new Teva CEO. A day later the company announced it would sell its
Paragard contraceptive brand to
Cooper Cos for $1.1 billion, with the funds being used to pay down debt. Days later the company announced further divestments: a sale of contraception, fertility, menopause and osteoporosis products to
CVC Capital Partners Fund VI for $703 million and its emergency contraception brands for $675 million to
Foundation Consumer Healthcare. By December, the company had announced a drastic 25 percent workforce reduction (greater than 14,000 employees) as part of a two-year cost-reduction strategy. Following considerable lobbying by the Israeli Government, from whom Teva received considerable tax breaks, and from Israel's labor federation, the Histadrut, Teva agreed to delay some of the layoffs in Israel. In October 2019, Teva faced criticism for making a "business decision to discontinue the drug"
Vincristine, essential for the treatment of most childhood cancers according to the Food and Drug Administration.
Actavis Generics In July 2015,
Allergan agreed to sell its
generic drug business (Actavis Generics) to Teva for $40.5 billion ($33.75 billion in cash and $6.75 billion worth of shares). As a result, Teva dropped its pursuit of
Mylan. In order for the deal to gain regulatory approval, Teva sold off a number of assets, including a portfolio of five generic drugs to Sagent Pharmaceuticals for $40 million, as well as a further eight medicines to
Dr. Reddy's in a $350 million deal. In July, Teva sold off a further 42 products to Australian generics company,
Mayne Pharma, for $652 million; the deal moved Mayne up 50 spots, into the top-25 companies of US generic companies. As part of the deal Teva will seek to raise $20 to $25 billion through a bond sale. After completing the $39 billion acquisition of Actavis Generics, Teva announced another, smaller, deal with Allergan, agreeing to acquire its generic distribution business
Anda for $500 million.
Divestments On October 21, 2011, Par Pharmaceutical has sealed the deal to three products from Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, which the Israeli firm was required by the US Federal Trade Commission to divest before it could acquire US biotech Cephalon for $6.8 billion. Following the acquisition of Allergan plc generic division some assets have been sold off to meet US antitrust requirements. In June 2016 Indian pharmaceutical company Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd bought 8 (ANDA)
Abbreviated New Drug Applications for $350 million in cash. Also in June 2016 Teva sold two ANDAs to Indian pharmaceutical company Zydus Cadilla, strengthening its US portfolio. On June 21, 2016, American pharmaceutical company Amneal Pharmaceutical previously known as Impax Laboratories bought a portfolio of generic drugs from Teva Pharmaceutical Industries for about $586 million. On July 29, Cipla an Indian pharmaceutical company bought three products from Teva. Indian pharmaceutical company, Aurobindo, was in the race to buy some Teva assets. In October 2016, Teva has sold off part of its UK and Ireland generic business to Indian pharmaceutical company Intas Pharma for 600 million pounds (5083 crore Indian rupees) in cash. In August 2016, Australia pharmaceutical company Mayne Pharmaceutical bought a portfolio of drugs from pharmaceutical giant Teva Pharmaceuticals last year for $845 million Australian dollars. In February 2018, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd has completed the sale of a portfolio of products within its global women's health business across contraception, fertility, menopause and osteoporosis for $703 million in cash to CVC Capital Partners Fund VI. Teva also agreed to sell its Plan B One-Step and its brands of emergency contraception to Foundation Consumer Healthcare for $675 million in cash. Combined annual net sales of these products were $140 million last year. It also sold Paragard to a unit of Cooper Companies Inc (COO.N) for $1.1 billion. Saxenda is not a generic version of semaglutide (Ozempic) which is within patent protection. Saxenda is a generic of an older medication, liraglutide, that has been found to cause thyroid cancer in rats but with no evidence this risk extends to humans.
Acquisition history The following is an illustration of the company's major mergers and acquisitions and historical predecessors (this is not a comprehensive list): }} ==Corporate governance==