Teva Focuses on Central Nervous System, Respiratory Drugs

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. will focus drug-development efforts under new Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Levin on respiratory and central nervous system illnesses as the company seeks to replace medicines set to lose patent protection in the next three years.

Teva will end five mid- and late-stage research programs, the company said in a briefing yesterday for investors in New York. The Petach Tikva, Israel-based company, which became the world’s biggest generic-drug maker in the past decade through 25 acquisitions, will cut as much as $2 billion of costs in the next five years, Levin said as he laid out his strategy for the first time. The stock fell the most in two months in Tel Aviv.