leadership change at teva provides catalyst , page-7

a few choice quotes as I read the q and a from the new teva ceo's address:

"the dependence on Copaxone has been sequentially reduced over the years in terms of its revenue to the company by virtue of dispersion across different geographies and the acquisition of some of the specialty products that it has."

"We've identified a number of different processes that we'll undergo to look at that. And amongst those is the process to look hard at the pipeline. Now as you know, that pipeline was looked at last year, and I think at this stage it's premature to say that there's any changes whatsoever from that. But I anticipate as Michael comes on board and works with me and others around the table, we'll have a much clearer view of that a little later in the year."

" Jeremy Levin

Right. Look, I think one of the elements that is important as we look to the future of the company is to understand how we can leverage some of the assets that are internal in the company. And so a couple of things were important in thinking through who would be -- what was required. Number one, we have a number of dispersed assets in R&D across the company. So I needed to bring together an organization that is currently geographically dispersed, multiple sites, multiple different programs so that we can really get a clear handle on what it is that we most want to spend our money on. And with that in mind, this includes across the generics R&D and also what, for want of a better term, is called branded R&D."

"
Eyal Desheh

Yes, this is Eyal. Maybe I'll put some light on the R&D spend for the quarter, which was lighter than planned and I can -- sorry to say that you can expect to see increased R&D spending later on in the year. But this quarter was a special quarter. Some of the R&D spending reduction was due to the currency. I mentioned that earlier it was a very long time ago, but before we had that break, I'm sorry. But we -- some of the reduction in costs was due to the exchange rate as a lot of R&D spending is down in Israel, some in Eastern Europe, part of the generic work that we do there. That has an impact. And we made very good progress on the integration and the synergy with Cephalon. Still, combining the 2 organizations together is taking a bit of time and we will definitely see an increase in the run rate of R&D spending later on this year and probably in the following year. Jeremy, Michael, do you want to add something on R&D?"

"Jeremy Levin

Yes, just let -- I have a couple of views on that. Number one, who said that the level that you are citing is the right level for either the branded or the other? That's just historical. The question is not that. The question is what is the focus of -- what are the right kinds of monies to be spending on the right kind of projects? And that's what we're going to do here. My sense of the industry, and I'm sure that of yours, is that there are a tremendous number of overlapping projects across the industry, people spending a lot of money on those. And whether it be 16%, 20%, 19%, 21%, the issue is much more how are you spending your money and what are you spending it on. So as Michael enters into the role and as we look at our company and ask the question, what are we going to invest in? How are we going to invest? These questions will be dealt with in the context of an overall corporate strategy that allows a company like ours, which is a very unique animal, not the same as others, not to be bucketed in any one but much more focused around how do we take our R&D, our R&D, that is the Teva R&D, and invest with a terrific return on investment, which is our goal. And recognizing some projects that are multi-tens of hundreds of millions of dollars in the large pharmaceutical companies fail often. We're not really looking to try and emulate that. At the same time, we've had a lot of experience of investing small amounts of money in small projects in Generics and have had a tremendous return on investment. So there's a balance and it's very appropriate. Each company must carve its own route. I can assure you I don't feel that we should be held to the standards that have been held for other companies to-date."

"It's clear, however, 2 elements are crucial. Number one, you do need to have in any organization a knowledgeable and thoughtful capability within the company that understands the language required to either diligence, or in fact, to integrate projects whether they be Phase III, Phase I or in discovery no matter what, or whether they be a new formulation being offered by an outside third-party or developed by yourself. So whatever you decide to do, there is no such model that will be successful unless you have at least some capability internally to interpret what you're doing on the outside. That being said, the other aspect that any company today, a modern company must understand is that across the world, there are literally hundreds of thousands of people generating interesting research, whether they are in academic centers, biotech companies, other pharmaceutical companies or indeed other organizations. In that regard, you must have the ability to be strategic and decisive in your ability to pull in things that meet your strategy. Perhaps, Michael, you'd like to comment?"

Interesting times ahead!