Carr Schultz on opioid storm: "We were sued because of a legal theory of alleged addiction assistance" • Expressed optimism about the company's future: "We have reduced our cost base and clean debt"
Teva CEO Kar Schulz // Photo: Reuters
"We were not sued for violating the law, but because of creative lawyers," Teva CEO Kar Schultz said, referring to the US painkiller affair.
Schulz, who spoke yesterday at a press conference for the 2019 summit, said Teva was not sued "because we did something wrong but because of a new legal theory of allegedly helping the addictive painkiller." It is estimated that at least 400,000 people in the United States died of an overdose of painkillers, some illegal, beginning in the late 1990s.
All U.S. states and more than 2,500 cities and counties have filed civil lawsuits against nature and other companies along the supply chain of these drugs, claiming they marketed these painkillers too aggressively and did not prevent the pills from flooding communities.
According to data provided by Teva, the company has so far retired $ 468 million for the painkillers claim, and according to the resulting compromise, Teva was to pay a direct payment of about $ 250 million and the balance of $ 23 billion will be given in the form of free drugs.
Recently, 21 US prosecutors reportedly rejected the settlement. Teva's CEO admitted that as long as the US lawsuit against Teva does not end, the company's "volatility" will continue, and if it does not reach a compromise, it could continue for a decade.
Schultz expressed optimism about the company's future, noting that last year "we reduced our cost base by more than $ 3 billion and our net debt by more than $ 9 billion. All while maintaining our global lead in generics, serving about 200 million patients each day ". Under the efficiency plan, Teva separated from some 13,000 workers, who according to Schultz "most of them found new work".
The CEO of Teva presented data according to which Teva saves billions of dollars to the world's health systems. In the US, this amounts to $ 41.9 billion, in Europe 8.6 billion and in Israel NIS 1.4 billion. "We have returned to the field of R&D in Israel, and we now have 12 new collaborations in the field," Schultz said.
Schultz said that in 2019, they were able to sell Copaxone for $ 1 billion, despite the natural drop in sales as a result of the loss of the US patent, and predict that with the help of new drugs, first, Ostodo and Ajobi, we will "improve profitability and generate cash, which will further reduce our debt. Teva's CEO also dismissed rumors about the company's sale to Amazon. "We talked to them about selling products. The rest is just wrong."