Teva to speed cuts

The new chief executive officer of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., told financial analysts Thursday that the drugmaker will accelerate its previously announced cost-cutting plan, which includes layoffs and closing facilities.

In hopes of "fixing the foundation," CEO Erez Vigodman said Teva is evaluating 16 more facilities after earlier identifying 11 plants that will be closed or divested.

Teva's 2013 annual report on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission listed 94 "principal facilities and properties," worldwide as of Dec. 31.

Teva's plant in Sellersville, Bucks County, was among the 11 facilities previously known to be closing. A Teva spokeswoman said by e-mail Thursday that no other local facilities are on that list.

Based in Israel, Teva has its Americas headquarters is in North Wales, Montgomery County. Teva has several other facilities in the Philadelphia suburbs, including ones it acquired through the 2011 acquisition of Cephalon.

"There is a lot of value we can unlock from getting our house in order," Vigodman said during the conference call, "by delivering on our cost reduction program, by accelerating operational transformation and integration, and strengthening our global generic leadership by improving profitability."

Vigodman started in February, succeeding Jeremy Levin, who left in a dispute with the board of directors over how cuts would be implemented. Vigodman said he was fully committed to trimming $1 billion in annual expenses by the end of 2014 and $2 billion by 2017, with $500 million of that shifting to net profit by 2017.

Some analysts pressed Vigodman on whether Teva would join the recent wave of drug industry trades and takeovers. He was noncommittal, either as a buyer or a seller.