Since taking over at Teva earlier this fall, Kare Schultz has been swiftly moving to shore up the finances and pay down the massive debts of the beleaguered pharmaceutical company.
Since taking over at Teva Pharmaceuticals earlier this fall, Kare Schultz has been swiftly moving to shore up the finances and pay down the massive debts of the beleaguered pharmaceutical company.
In addition to reported plans to terminate up to 1,700 employees in Israel and the United States, Schulz has been transforming the leadership team at Teva. The new leadership structure is intended to “achieve better commercial focus and drive value creation,” the company said in its announcement. Schultz said the change in leadership will address both external pressures as well as internal inefficiencies. In outlining the plan, Schultz said the leadership structure will allow a stronger alignment and integration between its R&D division and commercial teams. He said it will allow the company to become more agile and lean.
“The new structure will enable strategic alignment across the portfolio, across regions and between functions, leveraging scale, enhancing agility, extracting efficiencies and providing increased proximity to the markets,” Teva said.
Changes being implemented include a new structure in Teva’s commercial business. That division will no longer have two separate global groups for generics and specialty medicines. Additionally, the company’s generic and specialty R&D operations will be combined into one global group.
With those changes in place, longtime Teva executives Michael Hayden (head of R&D), Rob Koremans (head of specialty medicines) and Dipankar Bhattacharjee (head of generic medicines) will leave the company by Dec. 31.
Since assuming the helm of Teva, Schultz has faced multiple challenges including a debt of more than $30 billion and sagging sales in the United States. Earlier this month, Teva’s credit rating was cut to junk status by Fitch Rating. The credit rating cut followed news that the company once-again lowered its 2017 financial outlook due to increased competition to its lead branded drug Copaxone and lower than expected generic sales in the United States.
Schultz said the new management team is aimed at positioning Teva for a “turnaround in the short to medium term.”
“It remains our absolute priority to stabilize the company’s operating profit and cash flow in order to improve our financial situation, while being focused on short-term revenue and cash generation, and at the same time, ensure we deliver on our commitment to supply high-quality medicines to patients around the world,” Schultz said.
Teva’s new leadership team includes:
- Michael (Mike) McClellan will be the new chief financial officer. Previously, he served as Interim CFO and as SVP & CFO, Global Specialty Medicines. Prior to joining Teva, McClellan was the U.S. CFO at Sanofi.
- Hafrun Fridriksdottir will helm Global R&D. Previously, she served as president of global generics R&D. Prior to joining Teva, Fridriksdottir served president of global generics R&D in Allergan plc.
- Brendan O’Grady will head Teva’s North America commercial operations He previously served as chief commercial officer Of Teva’s global specialty medicine group as well as CEO for Teva’s North America generics business.
- Richard Daniell will helm the European commercial business. He was CEO of Teva Generics Europe.
- Gianfranco Nazzi will assume control of growth markets commercial for Teva.
- Sven Dethlefs will helm global marketing.
