Israeli drug manufacturer
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.
said it is appointing Richard Francis as president and chief executive officer, effective January 1.
Teva, one of the largest generic drug makers, said on Monday Kare Schultz, who took the helm in 2017 amid declining profits, a heavy debt load and a declining stock price, will retire at the end of the year.
Mr. Schultz said earlier this month plans to retire when his contract expires in November 2023, but the company on Monday said he had agreed to leave early to help facilitate an orderly transition.
Teva said Mr. Francis, 54, currently serves as an operating partner for a life sciences investor
Cinchona
Investment Management Ltd. and CEO of Syncona’s portfolio companies Purespring Therapeutics and Forcefield Therapeutics.
He previously spent five years as CEO of
Novartis AG
Sandoz’s generics and biosimilars division and 13 years as senior executive at
Biogen Inc.
Mr. Francis will be charged with driving sales growth at Teva and trying to overcome litigation Teva’s role in the opioid crisis.
This year, Teva agreed to pay $4.25 billion to settle investigations by US state attorneys general and other government entities stemming from allegations of past sales and marketing of opioid painkillers. The deal includes up to $1.2 billion of Teva’s generic version of the opiate overdose drug Narcan. Teva admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement.
The company’s revenue has declined in recent years as sales of its generic drugs and its former top-selling brand-name multiple sclerosis treatment, Copaxone, have fallen amid stiff competition.
Teva’s 2021 sales fell 4.7% to $15.88 billion. The company expects full-year 2022 sales to fall further to a range of $14.8 billion to $15.4 billion.
Under Mr. Schultz’s leadership, Teva cut thousands of jobs and closed factories as it paid off debt. He is pushing the company further into areas such as biologics, injectable products made from living cells, while introducing new products such as the migraine treatment Ajovy.
Still, the company’s stock price remained well below the highs reached in the previous decade. The company’s American depositary receipts closed Friday at $8.72, down from more than $60 in 2015.
Teva said Mr. Francis will receive an annual base salary of $1.6 million and an annual bonus with a target of 150 percent of his base compensation under his initial three-year employment agreement.
— Jared S. Hopkins contributed to this article.
Write to Colin Kellaher c colin.kellaher@wsj.com and Peter Loftus c peter.loftus@wsj.com
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