Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) fell nearly 10% on Wall Street today after reports that the large US distribution companies McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen have proposed paying $10 billion to settle claims in 35 states that they helped to fuel the US opioid painkiller epidemic.
The report has ignited fears that Teva will be required to pay more than previously thought to settle the claims for its part in the opioid epidemic. Previously, there were concerns that Teva would be forced to pay $4 billion.
On Wednesday afternoon, Teva will publish its second quarter results and all eyes will be on whether the company relates to the opoid litigation or the claims against it for price fixing.
Litigation aside, Teva has a $26.7 billion debt from the ill-timed $40 billion acquisition of Actavis in 2015. Actavis was responsible for more than 33% of the opioids sold between 2006 and 2012.
In July 2015, Teva's share price was worth $67, giving it a market cap of $61 billion. Today, Teva's share price fell 9.83% to $7.06, giving a market cap of $7.94.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on August 6, 2019
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