Rising to the Challenge

In a global and competitive market, where disruptive technologies are reshaping the rules of the game, large organizations now understand that they cannot generate all innovation in-house. As a result, they are adopting 'open innovation' models and embracing breakthrough technologies from the broader technological and scientific ecosystem. Teva is one of the companies pursuing this strategy as a core element of its pivot to a new growth plan. Through its recently launched Teva Rise program, the company is redefining the connection between a global pharmaceutical giant and the technological ecosystem—both local and international.

"For Teva, 'open innovation' is not a marketing slogan but a critical pillar in the strategic transformation led by CEO Richard Francis, focused on returning to a path of sustainable growth while improving efficiency and competitiveness," explains Dr. Maya Schushan-Orgad, director of the Teva Rise program. "The rationale is to turn Teva into a highly innovative biopharmaceutical company by embedding advanced technologies across the entire value chain—from development and manufacturing, through operations and logistics, to commercialization and global distribution. This required refining the mechanisms that give us access to external innovation," she adds. "While we have always engaged in research and development of new drugs, the Teva Rise program enables us to expand the scope of collaborations beyond innovative research. This broader scope is necessary to optimize every component of our complex development system."

Connecting innovation to business activity

The Teva Rise program is built around several key pillars: a global challenges program, an initiative aimed at identifying global opportunities, Local Innovation Hubs that identify technologies within the Israeli ecosystem, and an internal leadership program. At the heart of Teva Rise is the global challenges program whereby Teva seeks solutions to clearly defined technological/scientific needs. The response has been extraordinary, with hundreds of companies from around the world and in Israel submitting proposals for the first seven challenges that were published. The process includes rigorous screening to select the companies that will carry out joint proof-of-concept projects with Teva.

Local activities, by contrast, address a wide range of Teva's challenges and needs, in close collaboration with the Israel Innovation Authority. In particular, Teva is establishing local innovation hubs where Israeli technologies can be tested across the company's entire value chain. The Innovation Authority helps fund the innovation hubs' infrastructure, while Teva retains full independence in selecting the projects and technologies to be tested.

"It is a multi-stage process that combines open calls for solutions and active scouting, along with in-depth business evaluation," Dr. Schushan-Orgad explains. "The goal is to ensure that we identify the best possible solutions to Teva's challenges. My team works on the ground, identifying relevant companies and approaching them directly, alongside reviewing proposals submitted by companies that responded to the technological challenges we published. After the initial screening, we present the technological opportunities to the relevant business units within Teva.

"Although we are the scouting body, the evaluation process is entirely collaborative. The final decision to adopt a particular technology or startup is made by the business unit, as it is the 'end customer' expected to implement the solution in its operations. Close collaboration with the business unit, as well as with supporting units such as IT, is what ensures organizational commitment to the program," Dr. Schushan-Orgad stresses.

Teva operates across very broad circles within the ecosystem. "This includes close collaboration with technology incubators, accelerators, venture capital funds, and various industry bodies. We also work with expert advisors who have decades of experience in technological innovation. In addition, we maintain strong partnerships with academia, especially researchers involved with R&D. The goal is to ensure that no significant opportunity slips under our radar," Dr. Schushan-Orgad elaborates.

The program's success is measured by tangible results on the ground, focusing on three key parameters: the number of pilots launched, the real economic value generated by the technological challenges, and the number of solutions that reach full-scale implementation within the organization. "The goal is for innovation to become an integral part of Teva's day-to-day business operations and to contribute to the bottom line."

Dr. Schushan-Orgad points out that the company is working according to a clear roadmap with defined milestones. "If everything progresses as planned, we are aiming for an official launch event in the second half of 2026," she says.

Building local activity is not just about identifying startups; it is mainly about preparing the ground within Teva. "We are currently in the process of establishing beta sites in Israel and building the organizational framework that will support them. A critical layer in this process is preparing our business units; we ensure they are ready and equipped to adopt new technologies so that integration is smooth and effective from day one. A key part of this effort is identifying experts within Teva who can evaluate new technologies, and who will serve as our ambassadors within the organization. We built this structure for our global program, where it has proven highly effective, and we are now expanding it to the Israeli branch as well," she explains.

Emphasis on cutting-edge research

While the Teva Rise program focuses on operational and technological integration, the scientific heart of the company lies within its global R&D division. Dr. Dana Bar-On, head of Research and Academic collaborations in Teva's global R&D, is responsible for the complex interface between the pharmaceutical giant and the global scientific research ecosystem—including universities, hospitals, consortia, and startups globally.

"Our emphasis is on cutting-edge research," explains Dr. Bar-On. "We are not just looking for ideas; we are building partnerships that begin at the early validation stage and extend to the joint development of innovative drugs. Our efforts focus on areas where Teva already has a significant foothold and where there remain substantial unmet medical needs, including brain disorders such as Parkinson's disease and schizophrenia and immunological and chronic inflammatory conditions such as Crohn's disease, colitis, celiac disease, and dermatological diseases."

According to Dr. Bar-On, the process of selecting R&D challenges in the framework of Teva Rise began with an intensive brainstorming session involving around 70 key people from Teva's global R&D departments. Each participant was asked to define one challenge they would like to solve to accelerate their work. Out of the 70 ideas collected, two R&D challenges were carefully selected for the first challenge launch at the end of 2025. Following the call for proposals issued last November, the company has so far received submissions from more than 60 technology players for the two published R&D challenges, including Israeli companies.

One of the most intriguing challenges selected by Teva this year addresses a historic paradigm shift: the transition from animal testing to human-based models. This move is not merely an ethical statement; it is backed by dramatic regulatory changes by the U.S. FDA and the European EMA, which have recently approved the advancement to clinical trial stages based on data from non-animal models.
"We aspire to achieve more human-translatable results and better predict the drug's response in the human body," explains Dr. Bar-On. "Animals are an approximate model, but human-based systems allow us to work with cells derived directly from patients—through biopsies, 3D cultures, or induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). These technologies make it possible to create 'organs-on-a-chip' or mini-organs (organoids) that model diseases such as Crohn's, colitis, cancerous tumors, and skin diseases with unprecedented precision. The goal is to dramatically improve the predictive capability of drug safety and efficacy even before it reaches the first patient."

Optimizing clinical trials

Another key challenge for which Teva is seeking technological solutions relates to optimizing clinical trials, the most expensive and complex stage in drug development. Today, clinical trials are subject to frequent protocol changes; even small-scale adjustments during the process such as updating testing procedures or modifying schedules can trigger a chain reaction of delays, renewed regulatory approvals, and substantial costs.

"We are looking for prediction and simulation systems capable of conducting a 'dry run' of a trial before it even begins," Dr. Bar-On explains. "These systems use historical data from previous trials to anticipate where bottlenecks may arise. Will the process be convenient enough for the patient? Is the distribution of trial sites optimal? The goal is to design 'flexibility by design' using advanced algorithms. Startups in this field enable pharmaceutical companies to optimize timelines, locations, and resources, thereby avoiding costly mid-trial corrections, and potentially saving many months of development time and significant capital."

"In our global challenge programs, we are looking for startups with mature technologies that have already undergone substantial validation," Bar-On continues. "The goal is to take an existing solution and adapt it to Teva's specific needs. These companies receive funding for a pilot, and if it proves successful, we will sign an agreement for a longer-term collaboration aimed at fully integrating the technology into the organization."

The local track for early-stage ventures (Teva Rise Local Hub) also opens the door for young startups, working in collaboration with the Israel Innovation Authority. This track will host entrepreneurs who can benefit from Teva's professional and logistical infrastructure to validate their technologies.

At the same time, the company is not neglecting innovation coming from academic labs, both in Israel and abroad. "Here, the focus is entirely different: we are looking for new molecules and novel drug candidates for the target diseases we have defined. Our goal is to identify novel potential candidates for therapeutics and advance it to the next stages of development with an industrial guidance," says Dr. Bar-On.

Teva's current strategy is a delicate balance between its proud generic legacy and the development of innovative drugs. "It's important to remember that Teva has a proven history of innovation, with major successes such as Copaxone for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, developed in collaboration with the Weizmann Institute, and Azilect, a drug for the treatment of Parkinson's disease developed and marketed by Teva based on the research of Prof. Moussa Youdim from the Technion's Faculty of Medicine," notes Dr. Bar-On. "Today, this innovation takes the form of creative collaborations, sometimes even with the biggest competitors."

A prominent example is the partnership with the pharmaceutical giant Sanofi to develop a novel antibody for the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). In the modern pharmaceutical world, competitors collaborate. In fact, there is a wide range of partnerships across the industry to enable large-scale clinical trials and to share risks and opportunities.

"Ultimately, Teva Rise is designed to connect Teva's business needs with technological solutions that can be tested, refined, and implemented in practice. If the program succeeds, it will help Teva improve processes, shorten timelines, and translate external innovation into real business and operational value," Dr. Schushan-Orgad concludes.

For more information, go to www.tevapharm.com

Partnered with Teva Pharmaceuticals