Teva Tumbles Most in Four Years as U.S. Generic Ruling May Threaten Sales
Lovenox Sanofi-Aventis SA
JB Reed/Bloomberg
Syringes containing the anti-clot drug Lovenox made by Sanofi-Aventis SA.
Syringes containing the anti-clot drug Lovenox made by Sanofi-Aventis SA. Photographer: JB Reed/Bloomberg
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., the world’s biggest maker of generic drugs, fell the most in 21 months on concern sales of its Copaxone multiple sclerosis drug may decline if U.S. regulators approve rival medications.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on July 23 approved the marketing of generic versions of Sanofi-Aventis SA’s Lovenox anti-clotting drug from Novartis AG and Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc. The decision may affect Copaxone because both drugs have a complex molecular structure, Natali Gotlieb, a Tel Aviv-based analyst at IBI, said today in an e-mailed report.
The shares slid 6.5 percent, the biggest decline since October 2008, to 197.30 shekels at the 4:30 p.m. close in Tel Aviv. The stock earlier had lost as much as 8 percent, the most since June 2006.
Copaxone, Teva’s top-selling product, accounts for about 20 percent of the company’s sales, David Levinson, an analyst at Bank Hapoalim Ltd. said in an e-mailed note. “There is no doubt we are at an end of a Copaxone era,” he said. “If Momenta succeeded in receiving an approval for one complicated molecule, it may receive an approval for the Copaxone soon.”
Approval of a Copaxone generic may take “a while” as its molecular structure is “more complicated” than Lovenox,” said IBI’s Gotlieb. “Teva is prepared for a decrease in the Copaxone sales and already included that in its guidance,” she said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ronit Goodman in Tel Aviv at rgoodman9@bloomberg.net
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