Longtime Teva chair resigns, putting his vice in charge

There's more movement in the Teva Pharmaceuticals executive suite. The world's biggest generics maker announced that chairman Eli Hurvitz, who had been on medical leave, is resigning his position to focus on his recovery. So Teva tapped vice chairman Dr. Phillip Frost to serve as chairman of the board.

Frost has been vice chairman at Teva since 2006. He's also chairman and CEO of Opko Health, a specialty pharmaceutical company, and chairman of Prolor Biotech and Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services. Frost replaces Moshe Many, who had been serving as interim chair and now will take the vice chair's seat.

With Hurvitz's resignation, Teva loses the man who spent 34 years building the company into a leading generics firm. But analysts said that Frost and Teva's other managers are well equipped to keep building. "The strength of Teva and one of its main assets is its broad and talented management structure," Bank Hapoalim analyst Gilad Sarig tells the Jerusalem Post. "The replacement of the chairman is not expected to have a significant impact on the company's activities."

- see Teva's release
- read the Post story