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 Teva's Tel Aviv shares fell to 249.80 shekels ($64) late on Sunday,
the first day of trading since both news hit the market on Thursday
after Israel's market closed for the weekend. Teva's New York-listed
shares fell 3.8 percent on Thursday but gained 2.2 percent on
Friday, ending the week at $64.91.
In a potentially major blow for Teva, the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration approved the first generic version of multiple
sclerosis drug Copaxone, which accounts for about half the company's
profit.
The 20 mg generic drug Glatopa was developed by Sandoz, a unit of
Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG, and Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc, for
treating patients with relapsing forms of the neurodegenerative
disease.
Trying to minimize the damage to its own drug, Teva - the world's
biggest generic drugmaker - has been shifting MS patients from a
daily 20 mg dose to a three times a week 40 mg formulation. Though
the patent of the higher dose expires in 2030, investors fear it
will be challenged in court and possibly nullified as early as 2017.
"That is what the market is worried about. It's the fear of losing
Copaxone and the realization that Teva is now under pressure to do
something quick," said Excellence Nessuah analyst Gilad Alper.
He said Teva might have to abandon long-term plans of making small
deals and developing its own drugs in favor of a major acquisition.
Several news outlets reported on Friday that Teva was considering a
bid for Mylan.
A Teva spokesman did not comment on the market speculation.
Mylan, a generic drugmaker that has moved its headquarters from the
United States to the Netherlands to take advantage of lower taxes,
made its own $29 billion offer to buy Perrigo 10 days ago, and its
chief executive said a merger with Teva would be a bad fit.
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Some shareholders of Teva echoed this view.
"Mylan would give Teva severe indigestion," said activist
shareholder Benny Landa, noting Mylan was a cultural mismatch for
Teva. "Teva should not be making $30 billion acquisitions, even if
they promise to be accretive in the short term. Teva should be
focusing on multiple sub-$10 billion ... acquisitions that will
infuse the company with complementary technologies and products."
David Munno, head of research at the Sphera Global Healthcare Fund,
which owns shares in Teva and Mylan, said however that Teva could
afford to buy Mylan with a combination of cash, debt and equity.
"If an opportunity like Mylan were to come up ... the synergies
between Teva and Mylan or Teva and another generic combination would
be difficult to ignore and we would expect Teva to look at that
seriously," he said.
(Additional reporting by Ari Rabinovitch; editing by Clelia Oziel)
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