Teva Pharma raises 2024 targets on strength in generic, branded drugs

(Reuters) -Teva Pharmaceutical Industries raised its annual forecasts on Wednesday, as it benefits from strong demand for its cheaper copycat medicines and branded treatment for Huntington's disease.

The company is banking on its branded medicine trio — Austedo for treating Huntington's disease, Ajovy for migraine and recently launched Uzedy for schizophrenia — to drive future growth.

It lifted the annual revenue forecast for Austedo by $100 million to about $1.6 billion.

The company also aims to launch six biosimilar drugs by 2027, including rheumatoid arthritis drug Simlandi - a close copy of AbbVie's blockbuster Humira.

Teva developed Simlandi and psoriasis treatment Selarsdi, a biosimilar to Johnson & Johnson's Stelara, with Alvotech.

U.S. sales for its generic products - which make up nearly a quarter of Teva's total revenue - rose about 16% to $1.02 billion in the second quarter, helped by strong sales of generic version of Bristol Myers' blood cancer drug, Revlimid.

Teva said sales of Victoza, a generic version of Novo Nordisk's drug for type 2 diabetes that was launched in the United States in June, also helped drive growth in the segment.

The company expects full-year revenue in the range of $16 billion to $16.4 billion, up from its previous range of $15.7 billion to $16.3 billion.

Teva raised the lower end of its 2024 profit forecast to $2.30 per share from $2.20, while maintaining the higher end of the range at $2.50 per share.

Quarterly sales from Austedo, rose 32% to $407 million in the United States, while those for its migraine treatment Ajovy fell to $42 million from $52 million a year earlier.

It reaffirmed sales expectations of $500 million for Ajovy and $80 million for Uzedy for the full year.

U.S.-listed shares of Teva rose nearly 2% to $16.70 in premarket trading.

(Reporting by Bhanvi Satija in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Shinjini Ganguli)