Teva plans to reduce workforce in Israel

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries said on Sunday it would lay off some of its 7,000 employees within months as the company reorganises in a drive to improve competitiveness.

Teva, Israel’s largest company, did not specify how many workers would leave, but a source close to the process said the number would be about 350, mainly in production.

Teva employs 4,000 in production in Israel. It has already begun consultations with unions at two of its productions sites, one in the central city of Kfar Saba and the other in the southern Negev desert.

In the light of the complex business reality the entire pharmaceutical industry and Teva in particular faced, Teva had been implementing in recent years a global reorganisation, it said.

“Large parts of this plan have already been completed in most of the countries Teva operates.”

Teva acting CE Yitzhak Peterburg said the firm was committed to do all it could to guarantee that its sites in Israel were competitive, efficient and sustainable for the long term.

Teva was left without a permanent CEO in February after Erez Vigodman quit, leaving management to try to restore confidence in the world’s biggest generic drug maker after a series of missteps. Chief financial officer Eyal Desheh also resigned at the end of June.

Teva acquired the Actavis generics drug unit from Allergan in 2016 for $40.5bn.