Teva Pharmaceutical Industries has posted another very strong set of financials for the third quarter this morning, boosted by sales of its multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone, generics launches in the USA and the contribution of recently-acquired Ratiopharm.
Net income rose 62% to $1.10 billion, while sales increased 20% to $4.30 billion. Turnover rose 22% in North America to $2.72 billion, helped by the launch of a generic version of Pfizer’s antidepressant Effexor (venlafaxine).They were also boosted by continued strong sales of Teva’s versions of AstraZeneca’s asthma drug Pulmicort Respules (budesonide), Shire’s attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder drug Adderall XR (mixed amphetamine salts), Merck & Co’s antihypertensives Cozaar (losartan) and Hyzaar (losartan/hydrochlorothiazide) and Bayer’s contraceptive Yaz (drospirenone/ethinyl estradiol).
In Europe, sales just topped $1.00 billion, representing an increase of 21% compared to the third quarter of last year. Growth was attributable to an increase in generic sales in Germany, Spain, Italy, and France “due substantially to the first-time consolidation of Ratiopharm’s results”. The German firm was bought this summer for 3.63 billion euros.
The Israeli company’s branded business was again dominated by Copaxone (glatiramer acetate). The treatment brought in $808 million, an increase of 4%, and it remains the world’s best-selling MS therapy, with 30% global market share.
Sales of Azilect (rasagiline) for Parkinson’s disease reached $81 million, up 28%. Global respiratory revenues were down 15% at $207 million, while Teva’s women’s health business, which was acquired as part of its acquisition of Barr last year, had sales of $116 million, up 13%. Active pharmaceutical ingredient sales to third parties totalled $159 million, a rise of 17%.
The company noted that as of October 26, it had 203 product applications awaiting final US Food and Drug Administration approval. The company believes it will be the first to file on 83 of these applications, relating to products whose annual US branded sales are worth over $55 billion.
In Europe, since the beginning of 2010, Teva has received 1,461 generic approvals relating to 174 compounds in 351 formulations, As of September 30, it had over 3,700 marketing authorisation applications pending approval, relating to 287 compounds in 583 formulations.
Chief executive Shlomo Yanai said Teva posted “record-breaking sales across all our geographies and major businesses, leading to record-breaking results across the board”. He stressed the high growth rates in its US generics business, and in Europe, adding that “we are already making excellent progress on the integration [of Ratiopharm] which we now expect to complete ahead of schedule”.
