Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) and Philips Medical Systems Ltd. are jointly bidding to operate a Chief Scientist technology incubator. "This complements Philips' commitment to the Israeli life sciences committee," Philips Medical Systems Israel general manager Guido Pardo Roques told "Globes". "The incubator will not be limited to pharmaceuticals, but will also be engaged in medical devices."
The combination of precision imaging, homecare, and digital healthcare, and generic and innovative drugs, all of which Philips Medical Systems and Teva offer, should greatly help promote personalized medicine in Israel. "There is already a blurring of diagnosis and treatment of patients, between medical devices and drugs. The time has come for us, the companies, to follow. We realize that we will reach a different place in the next decade," said Pardo Roques.
Philips Medical Systems recently appointed a business development manager to seek additional collaborations in Israel, including outside the incubator's potential activity. "The Israeli government now mainly supports two fields: life sciences and cyber/Internet," aid Pardo Roques. "In cyber and Internet, venture capital funds do the work faithfully. They are suitable for this industry and there is no market failure. That is why I would like to see much more investment in the life sciences."
Pardo Roques added, "Philips' center in Israel is flourishing on the basis of CT, but we always had it in our heads, what would happen if CT slows? That is why we are seeking and succeeding in linking up with other Philips' departments in Israel. I am sure that in every field in Israel in which Philips gains a foothold, reality will ultimately tell, and more activity will go to Israel because it has the development capabilities. We also have the flexibility to understand the needs of emerging markets. The Israeli market studies the needs of the Chinese, just as it learned the needs of the Americans, and it isn't trying to copy what worked in its home market to the rest of the world. We've developed expertise in learning about new markets. Israelis also know how to talk straight."
As for acquisitions, Pardo Roques said, "I am not satisfied by the pace of acquisitions, but I hear that the company is very enthusiastic about more acquisitions, and when Philips buys, it doesn’t just suck up the technology here, but expands and develops it. Philips makes purchases from Israel to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars a year."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 5, 2014
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