Teva Pharma under investigation for U.S. anti-bribery law

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries is being investigated by the U.S. securities regulator on violations of a U.S. anti-bribery law, the news reports said.

The global generic drug maker said in a filing with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that in July it has secured a subpoena from SEC regulator asking to produce documents pertaining to allegations on bribing officials in Latin America.  

The Tel-Aviv-based company said, “These matters are in their early stages and no conclusion can be drawn at this time as to any likely outcomes.”   It also said besides cooperating with US government on the probe, it has also hired an independent counsel to assist in its own internal investigation into its certain business practice in Latin America. 

Teva is the latest drug maker that has come under the scanner of the U.S. regulators, who have since past three years conducting an investigation in the pharmaceutical industry practices of offering bribes to doctors in state-run hospitals to buy their brand of drugs, the reports said.  

Teva Pharmaceuticals is the global pharma company based in Israel. The company specializes in active pharmaceutical ingredients and in generic and proprietary pharmaceuticals. It is the largest generic drug maker having 15 largest pharmaceutical companies world over.