Teva's CNS brands grow 33% while its total revenue slips 2%

Teva's total revenue went backwards last quarter. Its three branded CNS drugs grew by a third. That gap is the whole story of the company's third-quarter results, published on 3 November.

The numbers

Revenue came in at $4,395 million, down 2% on a year earlier, which Teva puts down to lower sales of generic lenalidomide. Underneath that, the branded portfolio did the heavy lifting:

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- Austedo (tardive dyskinesia and Huntington's chorea): $751 million, up 21% in local currency - Ajovy (anti-CGRP injection): $269 million, up 61% - Uzedy (long-acting risperidone injection, part of Teva's schizophrenia portfolio): $85 million, up 96%

Together that is roughly $1.1 billion, up 33% in local currency. Teva raised its 2026 outlook for each brand: Austedo to $2.55–2.65 billion (from $2.45–2.60 billion), Ajovy to $930–960 million (from $850–870 million) and Uzedy to $290–310 million (from $270–290 million). Group revenue guidance moved up to $16.7–17.0 billion.

Mix is helping margins. Non-GAAP gross margin reached 58.7%, against 55.3% a year ago.

"Our strong third-quarter performance is another clear demonstration of Pivot to Growth in action and how far Teva has come." Richard Francis, President and CEO, Teva

Spending to match

Teva is putting money behind the brands. R&D costs rose 16% to $297 million in the quarter and selling and marketing rose 8% to $709 million, while G&A fell 6%. The company's transformation programme is targeting around $700 million in net savings by 2027.

What's coming through

The CNS pipeline is the next leg. The release says the FDA approved Teva's long-acting olanzapine injection, Weltruza, for schizophrenia in October, with US availability expected in the coming weeks. The NDA for ecopipam has been accepted, with an action date expected in the first quarter of 2027. In I&I, the anti-IL-15 antibody TEV-'408 posted positive Phase 2a data in coeliac disease and is heading into a Phase 2b in vitiligo.

Not everything is moving forward. A day before results, Teva stopped its Phase 2 TOPAS-MSA study of emrusolmin in multiple system atrophy after an interim analysis met its futility criterion. The trial had planned to enrol about 350 people, no safety concerns were found, and Teva says it hasn't made a final call on the wider programme. BioPharma Dive quoted a Jefferies analyst calling the setback "not core to the thesis".

The bigger picture

In last week's issue, AbbVie and Novartis showed neuroscience driving growth at the very top of the industry. Teva is doing the same from a very different starting point, with three CNS brands now bringing in about $1.1 billion a quarter. With a second long-acting antipsychotic about to launch, its US psychiatry and neurology field teams are only going to get busier.

What it means for hiring

Two long-acting injectables in schizophrenia means more account management, reimbursement and medical science liaison work in psychiatry. We'd expect demand for people who've launched LAIs before.
Brands growing at 60–96% a year usually outrun their commercial headcount. Marketing, market access and field leadership in neurology and psychiatry look like the pinch points.
Teams from discontinued CNS studies, such as the MSA programme, tend to be experienced in rare neurology trial operations, a useful pool for neuroscience developers.

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