The pharmaceutical company Teva is ceasing production of raw materials. The hang.hu‘s information was confirmed by Teva Gyógyszergyártó Zrt. The information sent to Magyar Hang shows that the Israeli parent company has decided to sell the business of the global active ingredient manufacturer. In other words, the decision does not only affect production bases in Hungary.
According to the newspaper’s information, the employees at the Teva factory in Debrecen, which employs 2,000 workers, were informed in February that the company would part with its raw material production division (which the company calls the active ingredient business in its communications). The decision is surprising because in recent years the company has carried out serious developments in the active ingredient manufacturing business, including in Debrecen. They wrote in response to the newspaper’s question: recently, a strategic investment worth nearly 23 million dollars was realized. As a reminder: at the handover of the state-of-the-art production technology in 2022, Gary Baker, Teva’s director responsible for the production of active ingredients in Hungary, spoke about how this nearly $23 million project, which is currently one of Teva’s most important and largest investments in active pharmaceutical ingredients, demonstrates Teva’s commitment to safe patient care. in manufacturing worldwide.
The paper did not receive an answer to its question of whether people should expect group downsizing in Hungary and Debrecen. At the same time, raw material production takes place in Teva’s Debrecen and Sajóbábony plants, and they work in several shifts in the department. We understand that the decision caused uncertainty among employees regarding the future. At the same time, they are confident that there will be a buyer for the department. The company wrote:
“We informed our employees about the decision to sell the active ingredient manufacturing business transparently, and in the future, we will continue to see the proper information of our employees as a key issue. At the same time, the planned sale of the active ingredient manufacturing business does not represent an operational change in the life of the domestic subsidiary at the moment”.
They also announced: According to their expectations, that the planned deal can be realized within 12-18 months if they reach an appropriate agreement with the future buyer regarding the transaction conditions, and the deal is approved by Teva’s global board of directors (You can read the company’s statement in its entirety at the bottom of our article). In response to our question, we did not receive any information as to whether there is already anyone interested in the department.
Debrecen has a tradition of more than a hundred years of pharmaceutical production. The pharmaceutical factory located in the Big Forrest has been operating since 1960 as Biogal Gyógyszergyár Rt. The company was acquired by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. in 1995 and has been operating as a Teva pharmaceutical manufacturer since 2004. The factory has been one of Debrecen’s largest employers for decades, and one of the pillars of the city’s business taxpayers. According to the company’s website, the parent company in Izareli started in Jerusalem in 1901 as a distributor of imported medicines. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. was established in 1976 by the merger of three companies – Teva, Assia, Zori. In 2021, Teva was listed among the 15 most important pharmaceutical companies in the world.
