Teva Pharmaceutical Industries

Is Teva Pharmaceutical Industries owned by another company?
No, Teva is an independent publicly traded company with no parent organization. The company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker TEVA and is owned by institutional investors, mutual funds, and individual shareholders. No single entity holds a controlling stake.

Is Teva publicly traded?
Yes, Teva is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol TEVA. The company is also listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Teva first listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in 1951 and on the NASDAQ in 1987 before moving to the NYSE.

What is Teva's annual revenue?
Teva reported FY2025 revenue of $16.5 billion, up 5% from $15.8 billion in FY2024. Non-GAAP net income was $2.3 billion with non-GAAP EPS of $2.10. The company guided for FY2026 revenue between $16.8 billion and $17.2 billion. Generic medicines accounted for approximately 70% of total revenue.

Who founded Teva?
Teva was founded in 1901 in Jerusalem by Yitzhak Elstein, Salomon Kahan, and Moshe Levinson as a wholesale drug business. The name Teva means "nature" in Hebrew. The company began manufacturing its own pharmaceutical products in the 1930s and 1940s.

What is Teva's market position?
Teva is the largest generic drug manufacturer in the world by revenue, with operations in approximately 60 countries and a portfolio of approximately 3,500 generic products. Its main competitors include Sandoz, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, and Viatris. Teva also markets specialty medicines including Ajovy for migraine.

How much debt does Teva have?
Teva's total debt at the end of FY2025 was approximately $15 billion, down from approximately $36 billion in 2017. The debt reduction has been achieved through asset sales, cost cuts, and operational restructuring. The debt burden originated primarily from the $40.5 billion acquisition of Actavis Generics in 2016.

What is Teva's best-selling drug?
Teva's largest specialty drug is Ajovy (fremanezumab), a preventive treatment for migraine that generated approximately $600 million in FY2025. Copaxone, once Teva's top-selling drug with peak sales of $4.2 billion, has declined to approximately $700 million due to generic competition. Teva's generic drug portfolio collectively generates the majority of revenue.

Teva was founded in 1901 in Jerusalem by Yitzhak Elstein, Salomon Kahan, and Moshe Levinson as a wholesale drug business. The company initially imported and distributed medicines in Palestine, which was then under Ottoman rule. The name "Teva" means "nature" in Hebrew.

In the 1930s and 1940s, Teva began manufacturing its own pharmaceutical products. The company played a role in supplying medicines during World War II and during the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. Teva went public on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in 1951.

Teva's international expansion began in earnest in the 1960s and 1970s. The company focused on developing generic versions of off-patent drugs, which were becoming a significant market as governments and healthcare systems sought to reduce pharmaceutical costs. Teva listed on the NASDAQ in 1987, providing access to US capital markets.

The 1985 acquisition of Lemmon Company gave Teva a manufacturing base in the United States. Throughout the 1990s, Teva acquired generic drug manufacturers in Europe and North America, building a global manufacturing and distribution network. The company also developed Copaxone, which received FDA approval in 1996 and became Teva's first major specialty medicine.

In 2005, Teva acquired Ivax Corporation for $7.4 billion, expanding its presence in the US and Latin American generics markets. In 2006, Teva acquired SICOR for $3.4 billion, strengthening its API business.

The transformative acquisition came in 2016, when Teva bought Actavis Generics from Allergan for $40.5 billion. This was the largest acquisition in Teva's history and made it the undisputed leader in global generic pharmaceuticals. However, the acquisition saddled Teva with approximately $35 billion in debt and coincided with accelerating price erosion in the US generics market, creating a severe financial crisis.

From 2017 to 2023, CEO Kare Schultz led a restructuring program that cut costs, sold non-core assets, and reduced debt. Schultz cut approximately 14,000 jobs and divested businesses including Teva's women's health portfolio and its oncology and pain management businesses.

In 2017, Teva faced a major crisis when Copaxone lost patent exclusivity in the United States. Generic competitors entered the market, and Copaxone revenue fell from approximately $4.2 billion in 2016 to less than $1 billion by 2023. The loss of Copaxone exclusivity highlighted Teva's dependence on a single specialty drug and accelerated the company's diversification efforts.

Richard Francis became CEO in 2023 and launched the "Pivot to Growth" strategy, focusing on three priorities: maximizing the generics business, growing specialty medicines, and advancing biosimilars. Under Francis, Teva has stabilized revenue, reduced debt, and improved margins.

In 2024, Teva received FDA approval for Selzentry (maraviroc) as a generic product, one of the first generic HIV treatments. In 2025, Teva launched a biosimilar to Neulasta (pegfilgrastim) in Europe and received FDA approval for a generic version of Revlimid (lenalidomide), a major cancer drug.

Teva has faced significant legal and regulatory challenges over the past decade.

In 2019, Teva was one of several generic drug manufacturers named in a Department of Justice lawsuit alleging price-fixing and market allocation. The DOJ accused Teva and other companies of conspiring to fix prices on widely used generic drugs. Teva has denied the allegations and the case was ongoing as of 2026. Several other generic manufacturers, including Taro Pharmaceutical and Sandoz, have settled related cases.

In 2023, Teva agreed to pay $225 million to resolve claims related to the opioid crisis. The settlement was part of a broader settlement with several state attorneys general. Teva was accused of improperly marketing opioid painkillers and failing to adequately monitor suspicious orders. The company did not admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement.

Teva has also faced scrutiny over its manufacturing practices. The FDA has issued warning letters to several Teva manufacturing facilities over the years, citing quality control deficiencies. In 2023, the FDA issued a warning letter to Teva's manufacturing facility in Hungary, citing data integrity issues. Teva has invested in remediation at the facility and the warning letter was resolved in 2024.

The 2016 Actavis Generics acquisition, which saddled Teva with $35 billion in debt, was heavily criticized by investors. Former CEO Erez Vigodman, who led the acquisition, resigned in 2017 amid the financial crisis. The acquisition's timing was poor, as US generic drug prices began declining sharply in 2016 and 2017, reducing the value of the acquired business.

In 2024, Teva faced a lawsuit from the state of California alleging that the company knowingly sold generic drugs containing nitrosamine impurities, which are potential carcinogens. Teva has denied the allegations and the case was ongoing as of 2026.