The deepening financial woes that have affected the global business community appear to be having the opposite effect on Israel's pharmaceutical industry.
According to Israel Manufacturers' Association director Chaim Horowitz, the dollar value of exported generic and other drugs from Israel reached $1.1 billion in the first quarter of 2009. Horowitz, a senior executive with generic drug giant Teva Pharmaceuticals, said Tuesday that sales of Israeli pharmaceuticals were 23 percent higher than those recorded in the same period last year.
Horowitz attributed the hike to an increased transition to generic drugs in countries around the world due to the international financial crisis. He noted that Israeli pharmaceuticals are exported to more than 100 countries.
Teva is among the top 20 pharmaceutical companies in the world, according to the company's website. The firm reported that its net sales in the first quarter of 2009 totaled $3.15 billion – also a 22 percent rise over the first quarter of a year earlier.
Shlomo Yanai, president and CEO, said in a statement posted on the Teva website that the firm's "strong performance in the first quarter, despite the foreign exchange effect on our top line, makes us very optimistic about the remainder of 2009."