Although Teva Pharmaceutical’s multi-year growth streak showed signs of leveling off under CEO Richard Francis, the company still beat Wall Street expectations in the first quarter of 2026, buoyed by impressive performance from branded drugs such as Austed, Usedi and Ajovy.
Meanwhile, there could be about seven new information or regulatory decisions stemming from the company’s innovation pipeline this year, so it’s not just about beating industry watchers’ predictions, “it’s about how we do it,” Francis said in an interview with Fierce.
Francis argued that the first-quarter line-up and pipeline catalysts suggest that Teva’s transformation from a pure generics specialist to a full-fledged biopharmaceutical company “has actually happened,” and at least one team of analysts likely agrees.
Evercore ISI’s Umar Rafat’s group wrote in a note to clients that Teva’s research and development darlings are receiving increased attention as the company enters a “very active phase.”
In the first three months of this year, Teva generated approximately $4 billion in revenue, an increase of 2% in U.S. currency and a decrease of 3% in local currency, according to an April 29 press release. The company has been on an impressive growth trajectory since Francis took over in 2023, but the company said it expects that momentum to slow slightly in 2026.
Bloomberg News said Teva’s overall results beat Wall Street expectations in the first quarter, and also noted that the company’s Huntington disease and tardive dyskinesia treatment Austed, migraine drug Ajovy and multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone exceeded The Street’s sales estimates for the same period.
The company’s shares were up about 9.5% as of Wednesday afternoon.
Breaking down the numbers, Austedo brought in $578 million over the three-month period, representing 41% growth in local currency terms. Meanwhile, Ajovy similarly experienced impressive 35% year-over-year growth, reaching $196 million in Q1.
The main hit recorded by Teva in the quarter was the decline in generic drug sales (which amounted to 16%). The company has been communicating this for some time, as sales of the generic drug Revlimid have slumped due to increased competition in the United States.
Elsewhere, the company’s long-acting risperidone formulation Uzedy reached $63 million in the quarter, and Teva said it was the “fastest growing long-acting injectable” in the category.
To further strengthen its pipeline, Teva is acquiring Tourette syndrome assets that could receive approval decisions next year through the $700 million acquisition of Emmalex Biosciences, also announced Wednesday. The deal primarily revolves around ecopipam, a dopamine D1 receptor antagonist that Teva plans to file with the FDA in the second half of this year.
Francis said Emarex’s assets “fall within the criteria and strategy that we have set out,” noting that ecopipam’s risks have been mitigated and it has passed Phase 3. Additionally, he said Tourette syndrome represents a significant unmet medical need. More than 100,000 children in the U.S. suffer from the disease, but only about half receive treatment and a much smaller percentage remain on treatment a year later, Francis said.
Additionally, the CEO noted that there may be overlap between Tourette’s assets and Teva’s existing knowledge in the movement disorders and psychiatry areas, thanks to Mr. Oosted and Mr. Usedi.
Regarding Usedi, Francis said the drug “nearly doubled the size of the long-acting market for risperidone,” and it gave Teva further confidence that it could continue to explore the schizophrenia space with a long-acting formulation of olanzapine, which the FDA accepted for review in February and is expected to consider later this year.
And although Uzedi has entered a crowded field, “there is no long-term market for olanzapine,” Francis said, giving Teva a new chance to build a commercial base for its launch.
Regarding Teva’s future trading strategy post-Emarex, Francis reiterated that the company is “not concerned with where things come from, internally or externally,” but added, “We like things to fall into our own neuroscience capabilities, and that’s what we’re primarily focused on.”
At the same time, Francis stressed that Teva “doesn’t do what we think is the wrong price or the wrong level of risk.”
