Teva CFS Book English

Teva from Day 1 6 The dawn of the Israeli pharmaceutical industry’s history Teva’s story is an ongoing corporate success story, in Israel and worldwide, but every large-scale success starts off small. The company was founded in Jerusalem in 1901 as a trading house that supplied medicine to the city’s residents and later to customers throughout the country. The goods were transported on donkeys and camels. The trading house was called S.L.E, after its founders Salomon, Levin, and Elstein Ltd. (a name that accompanies Teva’s distribution company in Israel to this day). In the 30s, young immigrants came to Israel from European countries, including a fair number of scientists, chemists, and technicians. The immigrants founded medical and pharmaceutical companies in Israel, including: Teva, Zuri, and Assia, which eventually became part of the Teva Group. In 1964 Assia and Zuri merged, and later acquired the controlling interest in Teva. In 1976 the three companies merged into one company, under the name: Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd., which became the leading company in the industry in Israel. The late Eli Hurvitz, who served as the CEO of Assia, was appointed CEO of Teva, a position he faithfully served in for 25 years. From 2002, Hurvitz served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for seven more years, until he retired in 2010 (more on the late Eli Hurvitz, his vision and special relationship with the Kfar Saba plant appears on pages 12-13). And meanwhile, in Kfar Saba... The story of the Kfar Saba plant begins even before it was acquired by Teva in 1980, when it was founded for the pharmaceutical company Ikapharm. The drug manufacturer from Ramat Gan was acquired in the 70s by Tiush (a subsidiary of the Histadrut’s Workers Company [Hevrat HaOvdim]). Tiush decided to invest in building a large and modern plant for Ikapharm. While looking for a suitable site, the company turned to the Minister of Finance, Pinchas Sapir, a Kfar Saba resident, who insisted that the plant be built in his city. A plot of land was found on the outskirts of the railway tracks, and Ikapharm was allocated a large, 20 acres of land, with the option of 5 more acres. In 1973, plant's construction work commenced, but at the beginning of October that year, the Yom Kippur War broke out and everyone involved in construction was recruited, and work came to a halt for two long months. When the war ended, construction recommenced with the aid of government grants that were meant to support employment in Kfar Saba, which had an abundant population of new immigrants. Building the plant was not easy - three years after construction on the new plant commenced, only 40% of the project Let’s go back in time and take a journey through the Israeli pharmaceutical industry - the journey of Teva Kfar Saba. Now, when we know that the Teva plant in Kfar Saba is signed on some of Teva’s most significant breakthroughs, we need to use our imagination to understand how it all began...