Fewer Generics in Fido's Future

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Just like fellow generic-drug maker Barr Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: BRL), TEVA Pharmaceutical Industries (Nasdaq: TEVA) is considering selling off its animal-health business. With a growing number of drugs coming off patent in the coming years, concentrating on humans rather than Fido seems like a good move to me.

Teva's animal-health division isn't very big. It's so small, in fact, that the company doesn't even break out the sales, although one analyst pegs that figure at about $120 million to $140 million a year. Compared to its $9.1 billion in total revenue over the last four quarters, Teva isn't bringing in a whole lot from the dogs and cats of the world.

Who might be interested in picking up Teva's castoff? Both Wyeth (NYSE: WYE) and Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) have animal-health divisions experiencing double-digit growth of late, so they might be interested in a little extrinsic boost. Schering-Plough (NYSE: SGP) is probably out of the picture, since the size of its animal-health division just jumped considerably with its acquisition of Organon BioSciences. Teva's concentration on pets might be a good complement to Alpharma's (NYSE: ALO) farm-based animal health concentration, but Alpharma seems more interested in growing its pharmaceutical franchise than its animal-health business.

The sale process has just started, and with $2.6 billion in cash and short-term investments, Teva certainly doesn't need the cash a sale would generate. Hopefully, that means the company will hold out for a good price. Still, the capital it could generate from the sale could be better invested in making knockoffs of popular drugs. With about 150 products pending approval at the FDA, I would imagine that Teva will need a new manufacturing plant --or two -- fairly soon.