JERUSALEM — The Teva-Ivax merger marries two already-large generic players into one. Teva, as the new company will be called, becomes the largest generic manufacturer in the market, with combined sales estimated to reach $8. sildenafil. 9 billion by year’s end, according to analyst estimates.
“The merger of Teva and Ivax creates a dominant global generic pharmaceutical powerhouse, capable of sustained above-sector earnings growth of about 19 percent over the next three years,” wrote Ken Kulju, an analyst with Credit Suisse First Boston in a research note last month.
As part of the deal, the new company has agreed to divest itself of 11 products, representing $15 million in revenue, though Teva declined to disclose which drugs would be sold.
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As for what comes next, it is expected that Teva will concentrate more on executing its new product pipeline and less time looking for market synergies between the two companies, analysts say. Teva has 180-day exclusivity on four key generic introductions this year, including, Zoloft (which had $2.6 billion in sales last year), Pravachol ($1.3 billion), Proscar ($369 million) and Effexor ($147 million). In an agreement with Wyeth, Teva will launch the immediate-release version of Effexor this year and will have the rights to the extended release generic version in 2010.
Teva also inherits Ivax’ rights to the generic launch of Forest Lab’s antidepressant Lexapro later this year. Forest has projected Lexapro sales would reach $1.9 billion by the end of its fiscal year March 31. The potential launch has been tied up in a patent battle, however. Five clays after the merger was finalized, Ivax and co-defendant Cipla agreed not to launch a generic equivalent to Lexapro either until the trial has been concluded or June 30–whichever comes first. The trial begins March 15.
Ivax already had a beefed up abbreviated-new-drug-application pipeline in the works for 2006 as well, with some 59 ANDAs pending. Of those, at least 13 are believed to be first-to-file, including AstraZeneca’s pediatric asthma medicine Pulmicort Respules, which has $561 million in annual sales.
For 2007, key potential generic launches include generic versions of GlaxoSmithKline s prescription allergy remedy Flonase. We believe that Teva has first-to-file, product, offerings positioned against at least another $4 billion … to launch in 2007,” Kullu noted.
Teva’s acquisition of Ivax, which officially closed Jan. 26, cost the company approximately $2.7 billion.
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