Teva profits up 53 percent

Teva Pharmaceuticals

Teva Pharmaceutical, the global leader in the makers of generic drugs, has stated that its Q2 earnings have risen 53 percent due to strong sales of Copaxone, the company's multiple sclerosis treatment which has increased 13 percent.

In a company statement, Teva said that net income for the quarter was US$797 million (€613 million) compared to US$521 million for the period a year earlier. Teva said that sales rose 12 percent to US$3.8 billion compared to US$3.4 billion last year.

Teva said quarterly global in-market sales of Copaxone were US$773 million, up 13 percent from the second quarter of 2009. Teva said Copaxone continues to be the leading MS therapy in the U.S. and globally. As such the second quarter had yield ‘strong' profits from North America and Europe.

Europe sales rose four percent to US$811 million (€623 million) and in local currency terms sales grew 10 percent on strong generic sales in Italy, Spain and France, as well as increased sales of Copaxone and Parkinson's disease treatment Azilect.

International sales rose one percent to US$522 million (€401 million) and in local currency terms sales increased six percent primarily on higher sales in Latin America and Israel. Sales were adversely affected from the timing of Copaxone sales in government tenders.

Significant process

In a statement, Shlomo Yanai, Teva's president and CEO said, "2010 is well on track to becoming another year of profitable growth and major achievements for Teva, a year in which we will make significant progress towards achieving our long-term strategic objectives."

"This was truly a superb quarter, in which Teva achieved record-breaking results, including outstanding organic growth. It was an especially strong quarter in North America, where we had nine new product launches, and in Europe, where we experienced solid growth despite the challenging market environment,"

Since Teva agreed to buy German generics maker Ratiopharm for about US$5 billion (€3.8 billion) in March, the company has dominated the consolidating generic-drug industry, especially with the branded pharmaceutical sector coming under pressure from looming patent expirations in coming years.

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