Last year, Teva's medicines filled nearly 630 million prescriptions in the United States, making it a larger domestic supplier than such pharmaceutical heavyweights as Pfizer, Novartis and Merck — combined. And as low-cost generics continue to make inroads with consumers, Teva occupies a pivotal position in a health care industry undergoing seismic changes that will give millions of more patients access to medicine.
Dozens of popular drugs are also about to lose their patent protections, opening the door to a generic boom. Already the generic industry’s leader, Teva is likely to capture even greater market share, analysts say, because it has cultivated a reputation for producing high-quality, low-cost drugs.
Like a typical generic maker, Teva doesn’t advertise or brand its no-name products. It does, however, supply medications for one out of every six prescriptions dispensed in the United States.
After at least $20 billion in acquisitions over the last decade and heady organic growth, Teva now has a market capitalization of about $53 billion
“There is a culture of excellence at Teva that frankly I don’t see a lot in pharma, period — branded companies, generics, it doesn’t matter,” says Richard B. Silver, an analyst at Barclays Capital who has been covering Teva since 1993. “They just do it better. That’s all.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/business/09teva.html?pagewanted=all
