Strong sales at Teva's API division

Sales to Teva's own pharmaceutical sectors accounted for 89 per cent of these sales following a successful year for its generic pharmaceutical business. However, the predominance of internal API sales should not diminish the scale of Teva's third-party sales, which Amir Elstein, Teva's executive vice-president, global resources believes are greater than its competitors. Whether this still remains the case in the coming years remains to be seen as third-party sales are expected to continue to decline. This trend is put down to Teva's increasing interest in branded and innovative pharmaceuticals. Despite this Teva still place a great deal of importance on the API sector, with Elstein describing it as "an enormous machine that can leverage a global file portfolio on a global scale​", at an investor conference earlier this year. Regardless of third-party sales Teva will retain an impressive API portfolio of over 250 compounds to supplement its pharmaceutical sector, which enjoyed another successful quarter. Growth in the sector was largely underpinned by multiple sclerosis (MS) treatment Copaxone (glatiramer acetate), sales of which rose by 35 per cent and broke the $500m barrier for the first time. This growth is not expect to continue though and Teva will be looking to its other products currently available and the 155 it has awaiting FDA approval to drive the company on in the coming quarters. Despite many positives in the report profits fell by 57 per cent to $147m following the acquisition of CoGenesys for $382m. This deal and the soon to be completed acquisition of Bentley Pharmaceuticals clearly signal Teva's intent to aggressively expand into new markets. A minor acquisition not mentioned in the company's quarterly report was Teva's recent purchase of a manufacturing facility in Puerto Rico for an undisclosed amount from Germany-based Archimica. The purchase reestablishes Teva's pharmaceutical manufacturing presence on the island following its closure of its Cidra plant after the FDA found small amounts of metal particles in the plant's products. Teva stated that the medicine was safe and effective but closed the plant nonetheless, with the company citing restructuring. Unfortunately Teva was unavailable to comment on this matter at the time of publication.