(New York Times) Natasha Singer - William S. Marth is chief executive of the largest prescription drug supplier in the U.S. He runs Teva North America, one of the most important divisions of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, an Israeli enterprise that is the biggest generic drug maker in the world. Teva has secured its rise through aggressive acquisitions, strategic discipline, quality control, low prices and an infectious devotion to corporate frugality. "We're kibbutzniks," says Marth, 55, an Irish Catholic who grew up in Chicago. "Frugality doesn't mean doing less. It means doing as much or more with less." Last year, the company's medicines filled nearly 630 million prescriptions in the U.S., making it a larger domestic supplier than such pharmaceutical heavyweights as Pfizer, Novartis and Merck - combined. Teva is likely to capture even greater market share, analysts say, because it has cultivated a reputation for producing high-quality, low-cost drugs. "When you are producing 60 billion tablets a year in 38 different locations in the world," says Shlomo Yanai, a former major general in the Israeli army who is Teva's chief executive, "you have to be very aware that quality is the No. 1 priority." Like a typical generic maker, Teva doesn't advertise or brand its no-name products. It does, however, supply medications for one out of every six prescriptions dispensed in the U.S.
2010-05-12 08:44:28Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive