Teva ($TEVA) is preparing to undergo some major changes over the next year as it works to close its $40.5 billion deal for Allergan's ($AGN) generics unit. But its portfolio isn't the only aspect of the pharma that's about to transform.
The company will roll out a new brand over the next 12 months, it said last week--one that "embodies a new promise, vision and identity for Teva and will bring to life the purpose and values the company has instilled in its employees," it said in a statement.
The rebrand will involve a new logo, among other things, and Teva is hoping it'll reflect the company's "heritage as well as the breadth and depth of our global offerings," spokeswoman Denise Bradley told FiercePharmaMarketing via email.
Teva won't be starting from scratch; the company and its brands currently have "great recognition" in some countries, Bradley said, and the generics giant already has some aspects of brand-building down pat. Back in 2014, Pharmaceutical Executive Magazine named its blockbuster MS therapy Copaxone its "Brand of the Year," and the loyalty Teva has built around the product since it launched in 1997 helped it convert most of its patients over to a new, long-acting formula of the drug before generic competition hit.
Teva CEO Erez Vigodman
But Teva wants to achieve that level of familiarity all over the world, and it sees now as the time to do it. It's already in a period of change, after all; CEO Erez Vigodman has been working to turn things around at the Israeli drugmaker since taking the helm in early 2014, most recently striking an Allergan pact that will see Teva swallow one of its main competitors.
And changes won't necessarily be stopping there. In 2017, Teva could be ready to switch gears and move onto "the next phase to the grand story of Teva," Vigodman told investors at January's J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference.
But in the meantime, industry watchers will have to wait and see--and they may be waiting awhile to see the results of the rebrand, too. Teva's 43,000 global employees will be getting the first look, a move that will help them "support the shift in our culture," "better articulate our path forward" and "best represent the Teva brand and promise to the outside world," Bradley said.
- read Teva's release
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