Teva Moves Further out of Debt and Gains Biosimilar Revenue

With 1 biosimlar launch and expanded indications for another biosimilar so far this year, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries has reported higher biosimilar revenues for the first quarter of 2020 compared with the same time last year.

Biosimilar income helped to offset declines in revenue from generic products in the first quarter for Teva. For both categories, however, revenues were $952 million for the first quarter of 2020, which is down 1% compared with the first quarter of 2019.

The company attributed the decline to price erosion for its products and lower royalty income, offset by an increase in revenues from launches of new products, including the rituximab biosimilar Truxima. Revenues for Truxima were not disclosed.

Truxima was launched in November 2019 for the treatment of CD20-positive, B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma either as monotherapy or in combination with chemotherapy. Following the resolution of a patent dispute, the product became available this month for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, granulomatosis with polyangiitis, and microscopic polyangiitis.

Overall, Teva's revenue for the first quarter of this year was $4.4 billion, which is an increase of 5% versus the year-ago quarter.

“Our very strong results during the first quarter of 2020 were impacted by greater demand in our major markets for generic and [over-the-counter] products and respiratory products,” said Kare Schultz, Teva’s president and chief executive officer.

The company reported net income for the quarter of $69 million, up from a loss of $105 million in the year-ago quarter.

In March of this year, Teva launched its trastuzumab product, Herzuma, in the United States. At present, the company has multiple biosimilars in preclinical and phase 1 development.

Teva has undergone a large-scale restructuring over the past 2 years, during which it sought to cut spending, reduce its workforce, and close manufacturing sites. For the quarter just ended, Teva said it had reduced its debt load by $600 million, leaving $24.3 billion in accounts payable.