The Teva Turnaround: Steering a Company Comeback

February 13, 2025

When I met with Richard Francis on a recent blustery morning at Teva’s US headquarters in New Jersey, the CEO of the longtime Big Pharma generics power, and of late, innovation hybrid, was on his way next to a meeting with the board of directors.

It was only a little more than two years ago, in late 2022, when that same board tapped the UK native to lead the organization at a pivotal point in its history (Francis officially assumed the CEO role on Jan. 1, 2023). Teva, at the time, was transitioning from a five-year stretch essentially operating in “survival” mode, as Francis describes it, focused predominantly on cost-cutting and paying down debt, amid fallout from litigation and an ill-fated acquisition that preceded (the Israeli-based company’s total debt was $35.8 billion in 2016).

This post-period, which began with a restructuring, including massive cuts to headcount, culminated in a sixth consecutive year of declining revenue at the end of 2022. During the stretch, Teva was also navigating macro challenges such as increased generics competition, pricing pressures, and the loss of exclusivity for key products (Copaxone, Teva’s first flagship innovative drug, being one).

With former CEO Kåre Schultz set to retire and the board seeking the right person to shepherd Teva into its next phase—a hopeful return to top-line growth—Francis was up to the task. He wasn’t drawn to the role for the prestige of becoming a Big Pharma CEO, per se, “as much as that is an honor,” he tells Pharm Exec. It was more so, as Francis reflects, because he believed, after weighing the risks and opportunity, that Teva, a company today of 37,000 employees with operations in more than 33 countries, had the capabilities in place to pull off a comeback.

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