Analyst Dismisses Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited-Mylan Inc. Merger Rumor

October 7, 2014

By Riley McDermid, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff

Rumors that Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and Mylan Inc. might be merging aren’t credible and would do very little to solve Teva’s current growth problems even if the companies did blend, said Wells Fargo analyst Michael Faerm this week.

Calling it strategically unlikely, Faerm said last week’s buzz about a possible deal between the Israeli drugmaker and Mylan was overblown.

Faerm said acquiring a generic drugs company is probably not a top priority for Teva, which has been struggling to regain market share after sales of its multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone plummeted.

The sales drop came after last July’s ruling from a U.S. Federal Appeals Court found the patent protecting the drug would expire in May 2014, not September 2015. Teva is slated to appeal the verdict in an Oct. 15 hearing.

In addition, Faerm said Mylan has not indicated it would even be a willing seller, even if it currently in the process of designing a generic for Copaxone.

Teva reported earlier this year that each month of delay in generic competition for Copaxone adds about $78 million to the company’s net revenue and $0.08 to its share price.