Teva, Endo, Amneal, Bausch among top companies likely to go bankrupt, says study | 29 November, 2019

An analysis undertaken by BioPharma Dive has identified 31 troubled biopharma companies that are at highest risk of going bankrupt in the next 12 months. Amongst these are companies like Teva, Bausch Health, Endo International, Mallinckrodt and Amneal Pharmaceuticals. Also on high risk are small biotechs like Clovis Oncology and Puma Biotechnology.

BioPharma Dive used data from CreditRiskMonitor, a firm that calculates the probability that a company will go bankrupt in the next year using a 10-point scale called a FRISK score. The company says FRISK scores have been 96 percent accurate in predicting bankruptcy.

Though bankruptcy filings have typically been rare in the drug industry, they have ticked up this year primarily due to rising legal, political and market pressures.

Teva is the biggest company on the list. The Israeli drugmaker has struggled to chart a convincing path forward given its rising legal liabilities and eroding revenues. Teva also finds itself at the center of several prominent controversies.

Legally, Teva faces charges of helping spur an opioid epidemic and of conspiring to fix prices with other generic drugmakers.

In December 2017, hundreds of opioid-related court cases were consolidated into a case proceeding in the Ohio federal district court, with Teva one among many industry players facing charges. That led to a recent round of early settlements with two Ohio counties.

Along with these prominent legal battles, analysts have also voiced concern about Teva’s high debt levels, which stood at nearly US$ 27 billion as of the end of September this year.
(Source: PharmaCompass)