ISRAEL —Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. has appointed Richard Francis as President and Chief Executive Officer, effective January 1, 2023.
Current CEO, Kåre Schultz, will retire effective December 31, 2022.
Kare Schultz has led Teva since 2017, guiding the company through some difficult times and reducing the massive debts incurred as a result of the acquisition of Allergen’s generics business.
Now we have a stable situation where we’ll be slowly growing both the revenues and the operating profit,” he said in 2020.
Teva’s stock dropped nearly 50% during his tenure, and sales fell steadily. Furthermore, during Schultz’s tenure, the company dealt with the loss of a patent for its blockbuster multiple sclerosis drug, Copaxone, as well as major lawsuits linking it to the US opioid epidemic.
“I look forward to leveraging my background and years of pharmaceutical experience to build on Teva’s strong fundamentals and to write the next exciting chapter for Teva, focusing on building a solid pathway to deliver long-term growth,” he said in a company release.
Teva is still dealing with problems, and when Francis takes over after Schultz retires in January, he will face a slew of new challenges.
To begin, the firm is still finalizing a US opioid settlement worth over US$4.25 billion that will be paid over the course of 13 years.
Meanwhile, revenues continue to fall, with Teva reporting third-quarter revenues of US$3.6 billion, an 8% decrease from the third quarter of 2021.
Francis, on the other hand, will be able to build on the momentum of some of the company’s recent victories, such as its generics revenue growth in Europe, the sustained growth of its Huntington’s Disease treatment, Austedo, and its migraine prevention treatment, Ajovy.
The remainder of 2022 is expected to generate total revenues ranging from US$15 to US$15.6 billion, according to the company.
Teva has charted a course for 2027 under Schultz’s leadership. The company anticipates mid- to single-digit revenue growth by then.
Schulz shared with investors a plan to leverage Teva’s generics arm, build its biosimilar stake, and focus on specialty products like Ajovy and Austedo to achieve that growth.
He claimed that he expected the overall value of the generics market to be worth US$369 billion by 2027 and the value of the biosimilars market could grow to US$56 billion over the same period. How Francis will execute or adapt this strategy going forward remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Teva’s biosimilar of Amgen’s Humira (adalimumab), secured through a deal with Alvotech, is awaiting FDA approval and is expected to hit the market in 2023 alongside its Risperidone LAI for schizophrenia.
The majority of the nearly century-old Tel Aviv-based company’s revenues come from generics, but it also provides specialty medicines, over-the-counter products, and is a leading producer of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and contract manufacturer.
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