(Posted By: Josi Creek)
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., the world’s biggest maker of generic drugs, sees opportunity in the U.S. health-care overhaul as more people gain insurance coverage in the company’s biggest market.
“We’re going to see 35 to 40 million people with medical coverage that were outside the circle,” Chief Executive Officer Eyal Desheh said in a telephone interview today. “That creates a very large opportunity that will take time to unfold. It’s not going to happen tomorrow.”
Teva doesn’t anticipate significant expenses because of the law, Desheh said. Rising U.S. sales helped drive a 31 percent increase in first-quarter profit, the Petah Tikva, Israel-based company said in a statement today. More prescriptions of the top-selling multiple sclerosis treatment Copaxone boosted results.
Generic sales in the U.S. helped Teva exceed analyst estimates with its earnings, Marc Goodman, an analyst at UBS AG in New York, said in a note to clients. Still, the company is trying to cut its dependence on the country. Teva agreed in March to pay 3.63 billion euros ($5 billion) for Ratiopharm GmbH in Germany, the world’s second-biggest market for generic medicines.
