Six months ago, when Teva Pharmaceutical Industries launched its new branding, the company emphasized that it was not merely a matter of positioning its public identity and changing its logo. Among other things, the company stated that it intended to regain its position as an important player in the local medical market, and to strengthen its ties with institutions of higher education in Israel. Teva promised then new cooperative ventures and activity to bring brains back to Israel.
Today saw two announcements in this area. Teva reported the signing of two cooperative research efforts it described as strategic: one with the Weizmann Institute of Science and the other with Tel Aviv University. It appears that these agreements are the first in a series of agreements likely to come later. Teva CEO Kare Schultz plans to position Teva in the future as a leading company in both generic drugs and the biopharmaceutical sector, which is where the new cooperation agreements come in.
As part of the agreement with the Weizmann Institute, Teva and Yeda Research and Development Company, the Weizmann Institute's technology transfer arm, agreed on cooperation, including financial support and joint work by research staff, in order to develop new specific antibodies at an accelerated pace for treatment of various types of cancer. The research team will be headed by Dr. Rony Dahan, a leading researcher in antibodies and cancer research involving immunotherapy methods.
The agreement with Tel Aviv University concerns research and development in cancer and the brain. Cooperation was inaugurated at a ceremony conducted in the office of Tel Aviv University president Prof. Ariel Porat and attended by Teva innovative research team head Dr. Steffen Nock, Teva head of academic affairs Dana Bar-On, Teva director Prof. Ronit Satchi-Fainaro, Teva head of government affairs, corporate and international markets Mati Gill, and Tel Aviv University vice president for R&D Prof. Yoav Henis.
Teva said that its research team and that of the university were conducting joint research to test the effectiveness of immunotherapy treatments in unique models involving advanced analysis of the immune system, and were also promoting research to improve antibody production processes through the use of advanced bio-informatics tools. In addition, several projects aimed at finding new mechanisms for understanding diseases of the nervous system are also being carried out.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on November 25, 2019
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2019