Teva reported a return to profit in its third-quarter results yesterday, putting a positive stamp on a torrid few days that saw the departure of its chief executive after a boardroom disagreement about its restructuring plan.
The solid set of results did little to stop jittery investors from dragging the company’s share price down, however, with Teva’s US-listed stock down another 2% after losing around 8% on news of CEO Jeremy Levin’s resignation.
Revenues at the Israeli drugmaker came in at $5.1 billion, up 2% on strong sales of generic drugs in the US and a good showing by its speciality medicines business, while earnings per share were $1.27, reversing a loss in the third quarter of 2012.
A price increase in the US helped lift Teva’s biggest-selling drug – injectable multiple sclerosis therapy Copaxone (glatiramer acetate) – by 1% to $1.05 billion.
The increase helped the product ride through a tougher competitive environment following the launch of oral rivals such as Novartis’ Gilenya (fingolimod) and Biogen Idec’s Tecfidera (dimethyl fumarate).
Teva’s generics business also had a buoyant quarter in the US, with revenues rising 6% on the back of exclusive launches of generic version of AbbVie’s cholesterol drug Niaspan (niacin) and Merck & Co’s cancer drug Temodar (temozolomide), although sales declined 5% in Europe and managed only a 1% increase in the rest of the world. Overall sales of the unit were flat at $2.5bn.
There was some more good news for Teva this week after a victory in a US court case concerning its exclusive, authorised generic version of AstraZeneca’s Pulmicort (budesonide) Respules, which could provide “at least three to 12 more months of exclusivity in the US market and possibly as long as through 2019, according to acting CEO Eyal Desheh.
Desheh, who stepped up from the chief financial officer (CFO) position on Levin’s departure, told investors on the firm’s results call that the authorised generic is a $700 million product for Teva, although it pays royalties on sales to AZ.
The acting CEO also fielded a number of questions from analysts seeking clarity on the CEO succession process and reassurance on the health of the company.
Referring to the impact on the share price, he said: “The market is looking to Teva for stability [and] performance. Long-term assured performance, not just the strategy but also execution, and this is what I and my entire management team here intend to give you.”
Desheh also said that Kobi Altman, Teva’s chief financial officer of Teva Americas has been nominated as acting CFO for the group while a new permanent CEO is sought.
