Israeli drugmaker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) reported lower revenue and profit for the first quarter of 2016 but beat the analyst's expectations while Copaxone sales rose despite intensified generic competition.
Revenue in the first quarter of 2016 was $4.8 billion, down 3% compared with the first quarter of 2015. Excluding the impact of foreign exchange fluctuations, revenue was down 1%. Non-GAAP net profit was $1.2 billion ($1.20 per share) compared with $1.2 billion ($1.36 per share) in the first quarter of 2015. Both revenue and profit beat the analysts' consensus of $4.77 billion and EPS of $1.17. GAAP net profit was $570 million ($0.62 per share) compared with $446 million ($0.52 per share in the first quarter of 2015).
Generic pharmaceutical revenue in the first quarter of 2016 was $2.2 billion, down 17% compared with the first quarter of 2015. In local currency terms revenue fell15%. But branded pharmaceutical revenue rose to $2.2 billion, up 10% compared with the first quarter of 2015. In local currency terms, revenue increased 11%. Especially noteworthy was the 9% rise in Copaxone revenue to $1.006 billion even though the multiple sclerosis treatment faces fierce generic competition. Teva attributes the increase to price rises.
Teva president and CEO Erez Vigodman said, “We start 2016 with solid performance across the business, strong financial results and the achievement of several key milestones. Generics remains a core contributor to our performance despite no major launches in the U.S. this quarter as we had in the first quarter 2015 with continuous operational and financial improvement across the business. We finalized our acquisition of Rimsa and completed the business venture in Japan with Takeda. We continue to make important progress in our specialty business where we see great promise."
He continued, "Looking forward, we have several upcoming approvals and key clinical milestones in our pipeline and of course the much anticipated close of Actavis Generics. We are excited to be in the final stages of completing the acquisition of Actavis Generics, which will enable us to further realize the enormous potential in the growing global generics universe and deliver the benefits of this transaction to our stockholders, customers, patients and healthcare systems around the world.”
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 9, 2016
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