"Teva is and always will be an Israeli company with strong Israeli roots," Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) chairman Phillip Frost told "Bloomberg" in an interview when reminded about the unsubstantiated rumors before he became chairman in 2010 that he would work to move the company's headquarters to New York.
However, Frost added, "Teva also must act like a global pharmaceutical company. There's a lot of nostalgia for the good old days when it was a family company and the board got together for a little lunch. That's not what Teva is nowadays."
"Bloomberg" observes that while Frost did not move Teva's headquarters, he did replace CEO Shlomo Yanai, a former IDF general with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (NYSE: BMS) VP Jeremy Levin who moved from New York to Israel.
Bloomberg added, "Now that he's in charge, Frost is thinking small. He wants Levin to find partnerships and make targeted purchases in areas where Teva is strong, such as multiple sclerosis and respiratory treatments. He's also pushing Teva to adapt and combine molecules in new ways to target a range of health concerns. Johnson & Johnson took a similar tack when it reformulated a narcotic used for anesthesia into a patch to treat cancer pain."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 5, 2013
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