Teva Drops Most in Month on Competition, Recall: Tel Aviv Mover
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (TEVA) declined the most in a month, closing the gap with U.S.-traded shares, as a competitor received clearance to sell a generic version of Lovenox and a unit recalled a drug.
The shares of the world’s largest maker of generic pharmaceuticals, declined 2.7 percent, the biggest slump since Dec. 29, to 168 shekels, or the equivalent of $44.84, at the 4:30 p.m. close in Tel Aviv. The U.S.-traded shares closed at $44.91 on Jan. 27. The Tel Aviv shares are up 9.5 percent this year, compared with a 3.2 percent gain for the benchmark TA-25 Index. (TA-25)
Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. (WPI) on Jan. 26 said a U.S. Court of Appeals cleared the way for the sale of a generic version of Sanofi (SAN)’s blood-thinner Lovenox, for which Teva also is seeking to market a copy. Teva received a “minor deficiency” letter from the FDA in January 2011, seeking answers to questions about the company’s application to sell its copycat of Lovenox.
“If there is a competitor that gets to market first, it isn’t good news,” Sabina Podval, an analyst Leader & Co. Investment House Ltd. in Tel Aviv, said by telephone, referring to the Lovenox generic. The Treanda recall “could indicate some problems in the quality of production,” she said.
Teva’s Cephalon Inc. unit recalled a batch of the cancer medicine Treanda due to the presence of glass fragments in a single vial, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Jan. 27.
Separately, a Medicaid prescription drug rule issued Jan. 27 raised the rebates drugmakers pay each time their products are dispensed to Medicaid patients. For generic-drug manufacturers, rebates would rise from 11 to 13 percent of their average prices. Medicaid is the joint federal-state health insurance program for the poor.
“The Medicaid ruling is more likely to have impacted Teva and pharma in the U.S. on Friday leading to today’s decline in Tel Aviv,” Jonathan Kreizman, an analyst at Clal Finance Brokerage Ltd. in Tel Aviv, said by telephone.
Kreizman also said, “With now two players, and one additional player getting ready to launch a generic Lovenox, even an eventual launch by Teva is much less attractive than previously expected.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Gwen Ackerman in Jerusalem at gackerman@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Maedler at cmaedler@bloomberg.net
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