Teva working on brain disorder medicines
Israel-based drug maker expects to complete development of new medications in next few years aimed at treating brain disorders as global population ages, CEO says
Israel-based Teva, the world's largest generic drug maker, is seven months into a sweeping re-organization as it seeks to mitigate lost revenue from increased competition from copies of its best-selling branded multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone.
Teva is investing $15 million over five years and has already given grants to more than 50 projects at Israeli universities to tackle diseases such as Alzheimer's, Huntington's, Parkinson's and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
"I am convinced that this effort will yield not just one or two drugs but will yield a great understanding how the brain works, what types of diseases affect the brain and Teva and other companies will benefit from it," Jeremy Levin, Teva's CEO, told reporters.
"This initiative is designed to build for the short and long term," he said. "I expect that over the next three, four, five years we should see a plethora of these things come to fruition."
He added that in the next few years Teva should see brand new medicines that will allow the company to combine with other drugs.
Teva also plans to focus on new therapeutic entities (NTEs), which could be new uses, formulations, delivery methods or combinations of existing products. So far at least 13 have been approved for development this year and Teva expects some of these to be launched in the next few years.
