-- Broader Platform Reinforces Teva's Position in the Fast Growing
Japanese Generics Market --
JERUSALEM--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NASDAQ: TEVA) announced today that it will acquire the 50% interest formerly held by Kowa Company Ltd. in Teva's Japanese joint venture for a total purchase price of $150 million. With this acquisition, Teva will own 100% of the former joint venture, which will immediately begin to do business as an important and wholly-owned member of the Teva Group.
Teva and Kowa announced the establishment of Teva-Kowa Pharma Co., Ltd. in September 2008, and have since grown the joint venture into one of the top 5 generic players in Japan, in cooperation with Kowa. The joint venture generated sales of approximately $200 million in 2010.
"We are happy to have reached this agreement to bring all our Japanese operations under Teva's full control and ownership. Full ownership of all our activities including Taiyo will allow us to better grow our business in Japan," said Shlomo Yanai, President and CEO of Teva. "With this stronger platform, Teva will be in a better position to further drive penetration of high quality generic pharmaceuticals in Japan and make better healthcare accessible to the Japanese people."
In July 2011, Teva completed the acquisition of Taiyo Pharmaceutical Industry Co. Ltd. for $934 million. Taiyo is the third largest generics manufacturer in Japan with sales of approximately $530 million in 2010. Taiyo brings to Teva a portfolio of over 550 products and a strong presence in all major channels of the Japanese pharmaceutical market. Teva also gained access to Taiyo's strong R&D team, local regulatory expertise and a state of the art production facility.
With this latest transaction, Teva's operations in Japan are expected to generate annual sales in excess of $800 million.
About Teva
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NASDAQ: TEVA) is a leading global pharmaceutical company, committed to increasing access to high-quality healthcare by developing, producing and marketing affordable generic drugs as well as innovative and specialty pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients. Headquartered in Israel, Teva is the world's largest generic drug maker, with a global product portfolio of more than 1,300 molecules and a direct presence in about 60 countries. Teva's branded businesses focus on neurological, respiratory and women's health therapeutic areas as well as biologics. Teva currently employs approximately 42,000 people around the world and reached $16.1 billion in net sales in 2010.
Teva’s Safe Harbor Statement under the U. S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:
This release contains forward-looking statements, which express the current beliefs and expectations of management. Such statements are based on management's current beliefs and expectations and involve a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause our future results, performance or achievements to differ significantly from the results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include risks relating to: our ability to successfully develop and commercialize additional pharmaceutical products, the introduction of competing generic equivalents, the extent to which we may obtain U.S. market exclusivity for certain of our new generic products and regulatory changes that may prevent us from utilizing exclusivity periods, potential liability for sales of generic products prior to a final resolution of outstanding patent litigation, including that relating to the generic version of Protonix®, the extent to which any manufacturing or quality control problems damage our reputation for high quality production, the effects of competition on sales of our innovative products, especially Copaxone® (including potential generic and oral competition for Copaxone®), the impact of continuing consolidation of our distributors and customers, our ability to identify, consummate and successfully integrate acquisitions (including the acquisition of Cephalon), interruptions in our supply chain or problems with our information technology systems that adversely affect our complex manufacturing processes, intense competition in our specialty pharmaceutical businesses, any failures to comply with the complex Medicare and Medicaid reporting and payment obligations, our exposure to currency fluctuations and restrictions as well as credit risks, the effects of reforms in healthcare regulation, adverse effects of political or economical instability, major hostilities or acts of terrorism on our significant worldwide operations, increased government scrutiny in both the U.S. and Europe of our agreements with brand companies, dependence on the effectiveness of our patents and other protections for innovative products, our ability to achieve expected results through our innovative R&D efforts, the difficulty of predicting U.S. Food and Drug Administration, European Medicines Agency and other regulatory authority approvals, uncertainties surrounding the legislative and regulatory pathway for the registration and approval of biotechnology-based products, potentially significant impairments of intangible assets and goodwill, potential increases in tax liabilities resulting from challenges to our intercompany arrangements, our potential exposure to product liability claims to the extent not covered by insurance, the termination or expiration of governmental programs or tax benefits, current economic conditions, any failure to retain key personnel or to attract additional executive and managerial talent, environmental risks and other factors that are discussed in our Annual Report on Form 20-F and other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
CONTACT:
IR:
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.
Elana Holzman, 972 (3) 926-7554
or
Teva North America
Kevin C. Mannix, 215-591-8912
or
PR:
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.
Yossi Koren, 972 (3) 926-7687
or
Teva North America
Denise Bradley, 215-591-8974
KEYWORDS: Asia Pacific Middle East Israel Japan
INDUSTRY KEYWORDS: Health Biotechnology
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