Negotiations on the signing of a compromise deal in the legal proceedings on the marketing of opioid painkillers in the US are continuing, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) EVP and CFO Eli Kalif has told the annual Oppenheimer Israel conference.
Kalif was asked if there had been any further progress towards the signing of an agreement, the outline of which was already agreed at the end of 2019. He said, "Another factor came into the matter, when a trial on the subject began in Orange County in California, so I cannot give details. I can say that the outline agreement remains unchanged and there are talks all the time but only with us but with all the others and there is nothing here that has been frozen, or that we are not trying to reach a solution. There are still negotiations."
The settlement covering all the US that was reported at the end of 2019 involved Teva contributing drugs worth an estimated $23 billion over 10 years for treating addiction. Teva is only one of several companies involved in the matter, which also includes distributors.
At the conference, Kalif also spoke about Teva's main branded drugs and says that the company expects continued growth in the sales of Austedo for treating chorea associated with Huntington’s disease and tardive dyskinesia. "The market includes about 500,000 patients. At the moment we are serving only a small part of this number and the potential is large. We have begun a campaign in the US to raise awareness."
Regarding the biosimilar Truxima, Kalif said, "Since it was launched in the fourth quarter of 2019, we have seen fine market penetration, and we have a market share of 26% according to the most recent figures. We are very optimistic."
Kalif reiterated Teva's long-term target of reaching 28% operating profitability by 2023. "When we embarked on the plan we were at 24.5% at the end of 2019. We are 18 months into it and during the first quarter we were at 27.1%." He also pointed out that Teva's net debt had been reduced by $10 billion since the third quarter of 2017, after which the company's streamlining plan had been launched.
Teva, managed by CEO Kare Schultz, has a market cap on the NYSE of $11.8 billion.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on May 24, 2021
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