Teva announces “outstanding year”

Following the release of fourth-quarter and full-year 2007 financial results, Teva Pharmaceutical’s president and chief executive officer Shlomo Yanai described 2007 as an “outstanding year”.

“A year in which we achieved record-breaking results across the board, fortified our leadership in key markets and significantly grew our business,” he stated.

The pharmaceutical company reported annual and quarterly net sales of $9.4 billion (4.8 billion pounds) and $2.6 billion – an increase of 12 per cent and 13 per cent respectively.

Teva also saw record annual net income and earnings per share of $1,952 and $2.38 respectively, with net income increasing by six per cent compared to adjusted 2006 results.

In particular, pharmaceutical sales in Europe increased 21 per cent, reaching $2,245 million.

The company highlighted that this increase in sales resulted from strong generics sales throughout the region.

Mr Yanai confirmed that the business met its challenge of exceeding the unprecedented growth it reported in 2006.

He went on to highlight that the company expected the momentum generated in 2007 to continue into 2008, leading to another “excellent year”.

Last month, Teva announced that it had entered into an agreement to acquire the privately-held biopharmaceutical company CoGenesys.