Yahoo Finance Teva Pharmaceutical (TEVA) Names Richard Francis as New CEO
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited TEVA announced that it has appointed Richard Francis as its new president and chief executive officer (CEO), effective from Jan 1, 2023.
The company’s current CEO Kåre Schultz has decided to retire from his current position on Dec 31, 2022.
Richard Francis is currently serving as the CEO of Purespring Therapeutics and Forcefield Therapeutics. He previously served as the CEO of Sandoz, a wholly owned subsidiary of Novartis and held senior positions at Biogen and other healthcare companies.
Shares of Teva have improved 10.3% so far this year against the industry’s decline of 29.3%.
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Kåre Schultz joined Teva as CEO in 2017 after serving as president and CEO of Denmark’s H. Lundbeck A/S. He joined Teva at a time when the company was struggling with challenges like generic erosion of its blockbuster multiple sclerosis drug, Copaxone and lower prices for U.S. generic drugs. He undertook massive restructuring, cut workforce, closed down plans and reduced Teva’s massive debt load to bring the company on track.
Teva still faces challenges like competitive pressure on some key branded drugs, a dearth of complex generic launches in North America, a high debt load and a sparse branded pipeline. Moreover, Teva is involved in opioid litigation and faces Department of Justice (DOJ) investigations on allocations of price fixing,
Teva faces several lawsuits with cities, states and Native American tribes, which claim that it is one of the several companies whose opioid-based drugs are responsible for fueling the nationwide opioid epidemic. In July, Teva reached a $4.25 billion nationwide settlement in principle to resolve most of its opioid-related litigation. However, the agreement is pending participation by states and subdivisions. The required number of states and local governments need to agree to deal terms before the settlement can be finalized.
Meanwhile, the DOJ has charged Teva for conspiring to fix prices, rig bids and allocate customers for generic drugs in the United States.
At present, foreign exchange headwinds, with the strengthening of the U.S. dollar, increasing interest rates, persistently high inflation, supply chain pressure and the war in Europe are creating an uncertain macro environment and economic volatility.
It remains to be seen how the new CEO navigates Teva through all its challenges.
Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider
Teva currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the biotech sector are Immunocore Holdings plc IMCR, Angion Biomedica Corp. ANGN and Syndax Pharmaceuticals, Inc. SNDX, all sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Loss per share estimates for Immunocore have narrowed 33.5% for 2022 and 33.3% for 2023 in the past 60 days.
Earnings of Immunocore surpassed estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and missed the same on the remaining occasion. IMCR witnessed an earnings surprise of 68.34% on average.
Loss per share estimates for Angion Biomedica have narrowed 6.7% for 2022 and 7.1% for 2023 in the past 60 days.
Earnings of Angion Biomedica surpassed estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and missed the mark on the other occasion. ANGN witnessed an earnings surprise of 66.42% on average.
Loss per share estimates for Syndax Pharmaceuticals have narrowed 4.9% for 2022 and 10.1% for 2023 in the past 60 days.
Earnings of Syndax Pharmaceuticals surpassed estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and met the same on the other occasion. SNDX witnessed an earnings surprise of 95.39% on average.
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Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (TEVA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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