Teva Pharmaceutical Industries has targeted $2bn in cost savings within the next five years, its CEO has told Wall Street investors.

Jeremy Levin, who took over as chief executive in May, revealed plans to save the money over the next five years in order for it move away from simply manufacturing generic products.

Levin told investors that the company will cut up to $2bn from its expenditure by reducing research and development programmes, reviewing the way it purchases IT and raw materials and selling certain facilities.

“Teva will look like a very different company going forward,” Levin told investors.

Israeli-based Teva is a global leader in the generic market but has plans to develop into a major pharmaceutical company. Levin replaced Shlomo Yanai with the intention of boosting Teva’s revenue streams through a new approach of mergers and acquisitions.

Yet despite recently purchasing Cephalon, along with its branded drugs Provigil and Nuvigil, the company has failed to hit Levin’s revenue target of $20.8bn. Teva now expects revenue for 2012 to be between $19.5 billion and $20.5 billion.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, the world’s leading generic drugs manufacturer, has appointed new leaders for its US and global women’s health operations.

Allan Oberman, Teva’s Senior Vice President of North America Generic Pharmaceuticals, has been appointed President and CEO of Teva Americas Generics.

Jill DeSimone, who joins Teva from Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), has taken on the new position of Senior Vice President and General Manager of Teva Global Women’s Health.

Mr Oberman’s role will include continued responsibility for North America Generics, as well as management of Teva’s Latin American businesses.

As part of the succession, Mr. William S. Marth will step down as President and CEO of Teva Americas and serve as a senior advisor to Teva CEO Dr Jeremy Levin before retiring at the end of 2013.

Allan Oberman joined Teva in 2000 and served as President of Teva EMIA (Eastern Europe, Middle East, Israel and Africa), President and CEO of Teva Canada, and Chief Operating Officer of the Teva International Group before becoming Senior VP of North America Generic Pharmaceuticals earlier this year.

Jill DeSimone held various leadership positions at BMS, including Senior Vice President, US Commercialization Excellence. In her new role, she will oversee all aspects of Teva’s Women’s Health franchise.

“These changes are part of our ongoing process to build a premier leadership team and reshape Teva,” said Dr. Jeremy Levin.

“Allan brings extensive experience in global generics to the Company’s Americas teams. Jill brings a great track record and many years of experience in building franchises in specialty medicine. We look forward to her contributions in leading our Women’s Health business.”

Jeremy Levin, the new Teva CEO, has announced “an augmentation of the US generics team” to restore the company’s position in that market sector.

Allan Oberman will shift from leading Teva’s EMIA division to leading its US generics division – replacing Tim Crew, who will move to another role.

Teva has long dominated the US generics market, but its annual generic drugs revenue in the US fell by 32% to $4bn in 2011.

Based in Israel, Teva divides its global business into four units: Europe, the Americas, EMIA (Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Israel and Africa).

Speaking at a press conference, Levin (pictured) said: “We have instituted an augmentation of the US generics team, and that was an important step for us to bring in the greater depth of management and greater capability there, to assist in what I believe we can do here, which is to rebuild that market share.”

Teva’s new distribution centre in Northeast Philadelphia, due to be completed in mid-2013, will further strengthen its US presence.

Levin, who joined Teva in February, replaced Shlomo Yanai as CEO on May 10.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries is seeking to expand its branded drug portfolio and make more acquisitions, downplaying its reputation as a generics supplier.

This follows a year in which its acquisition of US specialty pharmaceutical company Cephalon saw Teva benefit from growing sales of MS drug Copaxone, while its sales of generics in the US declined.

Chief Executive Shlomo Yanai (pictured) said the Israel-based company does not want to be dependent on one ‘blockbuster’ product – an implicit comment on the ‘patent cliff’ faced by some leading pharma companies this year.

Yanai’s impending replacement (in May) by Jeremy Levin, who oversaw BMS’s ‘string of pearls’ acquisition strategy, has been interpreted as meaning that Teva will expand through takeovers of smaller companies.

Teva is the world’s leading supplier of generic drugs, but in 2011 its sales of generics in the US fell by 32%.

The company’s $6.5bn acquisition of Cephalon, which closed in October, was the main factor in the 28% rise in sales that Teva saw in the fourth quarter of 2011 – bringing its 2011 sales revenue to $18.3bn, 14% above the 2010 figure.

Sales of Copaxone, which passed $1bn in the last quarter, made up one-sixth of Teva’s entire quarterly revenue – but in 2012, the drug’s sales are expected to peak due to growing competition.

Yanai commented: “Our answer is not just in developing drugs but in reducing our dependence on this product.” He also said he was “optimistic about the continued growth of Teva in the branded products sector,” and that the company was examining opportunities for acquisitions.

2011 also saw Teva acquire Japanese company Taiyo and partner with Procter & Gamble to supply OTC medicines. Analysts have suggested that the company may seek to purchase Shire, a specialist in drugs for rare diseases.

However, Teva has no plans to abandon the generics market, which Yanai said may pick up in 2012 due to the worsening US economic crisis.

Teva forecasts 2012 sales of $22bn, compared to $18.3bn in 2011 – including $8.2bn from branded drugs, compared with $6.5bn in 2011.