Teva Cedes Spot as Israel's Biggest Firm in Blow to Prestige
- Drugmaker was once touted as “the people’s stock” in Israel
- Company has lost two-thirds of its market value in a year
Boxes of tablets, produced by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., sit on a pharmacy counter in this arranged photograph in London, U.K., on Thursday, Dec. 29, 2016. The rapid pace of innovation among drugmakers may continue to be overshadowed by broader investment themes, such as the switch away from defensive stocks into more cyclical industries, during 2017, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.
Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/BloombergTeva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. lost its position atop Israel’s corporate hierarchy for the first time in 15 years in yet another sign of the precipitous decline in fortunes at the world’s biggest maker of cheap copycat medicines.
The drugmaker’s market capitalization fell to $17.6 billion on Monday, capping a year in which more than two-thirds of Teva’s value was erased, and continued its slump in Israeli trading on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Tel Aviv-based Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. narrowly edged past it to $17.7 billion.