Dive Brief:
- Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. is rolling out a new brand image in North America. The beleaguered company has already introduced the new brand to its employees across the world and also in branding campaigns in France, Russia and Argentina. Other launches are planned for 2018.
- The rebranding began more than two years ago when Teva created a "strategic corporate identity program" to better align the company after a slew of acquisitions.
- "Of course this is a process, and we will continue to evolve the Teva brand in these and other markets," said Iris Beck-Codner, Teva's EVP of Global Brand and Corporate Communications in a statement. "Recognizing our financial situation, we are managing each launch in a way that makes the best use of existing resources and plans, with minimal additional financial investment."
Dive Insight:
The Israeli pharmaceutical giant has struggled for several years, cycling through CEOs, delays in its pipeline and increased competition to its best-selling multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone (glatiramer acetate). It is likely going to take more than a corporate rebranding to fix what's broken.
Last year, Teva lowered its 2017 revenue forecast to between $22.2 billion and $22.3 billion, from the previously projected $22.8 billion to $23.2 billion. And the company shaved its 2018 revenue forecast in February to a range of $18.3 billion to $18.8 billion, disappointing investors.
Not only is Copaxone facing increased competition from the growing number of multiple sclerosis drugs on the market, but it is also competing with multiple generic versions. The drug still brought in $3.8 billion in 2017 — more than 20% of the company's total revenue — but analysts expect sales to settle somewhere between $400 to $500 million annually now that generics of both formulations of the drug are available.
Amid falling profits, Teva has had a revolving door of CEOs. The company just recently tapped its fifth leader since 2012. There have been high-profile fights between the traditionally-Israeli board of directors at the company and a line of executives trying to drag the generics giant into the modern era.
Teva has also taken on a massive restructuring, cutting its staff down to 39,000 employees globally, axing 25 specialty programs from its pipeline, and closing about a dozen manufacturing plants over two years.
In its new rebranding plan, Teva says that it is not taking a "top-down approach," but rather "rolling out the brand from the bottom up, building local relevance into a global framework. The approach ensures the company addresses the diversity and nuances of each market, including its business model, portfolio, healthcare system, as well as the specific needs of its patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals."
The company said it interacted with over 13,000 patients, 9,300 caregivers and over 1,000 healthcare professionals from 20 countries to gain insights for its new brand positioning. Teva found that 63% of people wanted to take control of their health and that 47% are caring for someone with a health condition. New materials for healthcare providers and patients are coming this month, Teva said, while new packaging will hit the shelves in the second half of 2018.
The rebranding has the tagline: “Teva is committed to providing innovative and high-quality medicines to enable people around the world to live better days.”