Product Manager, Yonathan Tobis, is responsible for 50+ commercial and pipeline products in Teva api’s portfolio. See what being a product manager is all about, which skills are most valuable, and what Yonathan finds most satisfying about the role.

I’m an industrial engineer by profession. I first worked as a project controller for a homeland security company and then joined the world of pharma, at Teva, in 2015. I was in a planning and control function in R&D, and then in the global Regulatory Affairs team. Both these roles involved a lot of activities relating to workplans, systems, reports, setting KPIs and measuring them, which is classic planning and control.

At one point I felt like I needed a change, so two years ago I joined the commercial team as product manager. I’m very glad I made this switch. It’s very interesting here. I love the energy, and the fast pace. You can’t miss an opportunity. You need to act fast by working on the offering, building the business case, getting the approvals. You get things going.

There’s the external and internal side of product management. On the one hand, I need to have a deep understanding of the market, the specific therapeutic area, market prices, the patent landscape, and the limits of manufacturing. On the other hand, I need to work internally within the organization to understand the added value of our product, and push to be on time with a competitive cost, to be ready for launch. Once we connect the readiness of the organization and the right timing to promote the product, we can then try to leverage it to bring in customers and revenues.

A great case study is Edoxaban. We knew we had a great product and had a high-quality offering, and we started development on time. As we started analyzing market prices and talking to interested customers, we understood that to be prepared for the commercial phase, we’d have to work on our pricing point. We built a product strategy and started putting feelers out within the organization. Timing was crucial as customers make their decisions now based on your future estimations of cost. To support timely launch, where permissible under and in accordance with applicable law, we had to know in advance what future costs would be. This is an excellent example of how we were able to start redevelopment on time with a more cost-effective approach.

We create the high level direction for hundreds of products. We work with sales, marketing, patent and legal. We work with R&D for estimations for new developments, MS&T for cost reduction evaluations, and the sites for capacity and manufacturing timelines. Of course, once we create these high-level strategies, they need to be evaluated periodically. The environment is very dynamic and there are constant changes — competitors going in and out, changing costs, raw material prices changing.

Each product manager has around 60 products. This includes commercial and pipeline products. Some commercial products are stable so need less attention; some are blockbuster products that sell at $20 or $30 million a year. If there’s a cost gap or a raw materials issue for a big product like this, it would take a lot of my focus. Pipeline products with a high potential can also be extremely interesting – how do we carry this product to become a future blockbuster? I took on Sugammadex close to its European launch. Sugammadex is an important growth engine for us so it was a really eye-opening experience for me.

I find the work very satisfying. If I’m working with an account manager on the details of a deal, and then they succeed in closing that deal, it’s a good feeling.

Our project management team is very diverse—each team member brings a different perspective. One of my colleagues came from pharma, so she understands customer needs for development at a top level; one came from marketing so gets the marketing angle; one came from project management so has great skills in pushing everyone. I think it’s very important for the team to have people from different backgrounds and we all help each other.

At the end of the day, it’s all people. You need that soft skill of being able to build good relationships. In this position, you need so much information from different people to help you build a product’s strategy, so you need to keep these people on side so that they want to help you.

I’m a big sports fan and avidly follow basketball and football. I also set myself the goal of doing CrossFit three times a week.

*Pipeline API’s are currently developed and produced for R&D purposes and regulatory submissions only. The sale is excluded except for the purposes of obtaining one or more marketing authorizations and only if the latter sale is permissible under and in accordance with applicable law.

11 February is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. At Teva api, women make up a large percentage of the work force and leadership positions in our R&D and manufacturing teams across the globe. Today, Andrea Szilagyi, Associate Director of R&D at our Debrecen, Hungary site, tells us what inspired her to enter the world of science and what’s different about the Hungary team.   

Andrea, how did you get into this field? 

My mother was a math and chemistry teacher in elementary school so even before I studied chemistry, I knew it would be interesting. Maybe I was biased, but I wanted to be just like my mom! In high school, I pivoted and decided I wanted to be a chemist instead, so I went down that route at university. My mom was obviously very happy and always very encouraging!  

My teachers both at school and at university were very inspiring. My two supervisors, who guided me throughout my university career, through to my PHD, were women and strong role models for me. I think the way I work now is very much influenced by them.  

My husband and I moved several times over the course of my PHD and beyond, and each time I worked in a different field of chemistry. This was really fruitful for me in the long term and really broadened my experience. 

What exactly does your job entail? 

I’ve been at Teva now for 15 years and I like it very much. There’s never a dull day! My team and I develop API processes – we work out how certain APIs can be manufactured. We start with a small-scale product and work through many development stages over a long-time span.    

We have synthetic projects, but here in Debrecen we also specialize in developing fermentation products. Following the actual fermentation, we then take the active ingredient and isolate, purify and sometimes modify it. This requires a different approach to synthetic products, which is very interesting.  

In recent years, we’ve also collaborated with other R&D sites within Teva. We had several projects in which the earlier development was done at other sites and then transferred over to us. We also transfer a lot of our projects over to the production sites in other countries. 

Do you think women bring something unique to the table? 

The male female ratio is approximately 50-50 here in Debrecen. I do think women contribute something unique. Because we deal with a wide range of activities, no project can be a one-person show. The teams are large and must work together. It’s not just about being a chemist, it’s about the flow of teamwork and how we find solutions together. And I think the women here are particularly strong at that and make a fundamental contribution in the exchange of ideas and working on solutions throughout the process of the project. 

What advice would you give to young women and girls?  

This is relevant to everyone in today’s day and age but know that having a family will never be a drawback, but an asset to your career. I have three adult sons and retrospectively, I see how I had to develop certain skills through my children that later came very handy at work. I don’t think I’d ever have been able to do what I do now without having fine-tuned these skills: 

Planning – I was not a person who planned very much but when you have 3 kids, you have more children than hands, so you must find clever ways to achieve what you want. Planning was something I had to work on to get through the day. This is an essential aspect of my work now. 

The ability to switch between tasks — I learnt how to flexibly move from a work task to a family task. Because I knew I couldn’t be in the lab without limit, it helped me create boundaries and borders.  

Creativity – children require a lot of creativity. My kids helped me learn how to be more creative at work. I would envision what was happening in a project like a story. Do I understand it well enough to be able to describe it properly to others?  

What advice would you give someone who wants to get into a leadership position? 

To be a leader is less about the profession itself – whether science or otherwise – and more about the people. You need to concentrate on people and enable them to grow. And it will give you the opportunity to grow in a different way yourself that has nothing to do with scientific knowledge.  

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time? 

I like to read and attend cultural events, such as the theatre and classical music concerts. In recent years, I’ve become really fascinated with history, so I watch a lot of documentaries and read a lot about different historical periods. I also like to travel, which is again about people for me. I like to see how people interact with each other, what their heritage is about, and how they think about the world.  

Meeting Šárka Fialova and Petra Conckova was really pretty inspiring. Both women work in Teva api’s Opava manufacturing site in the Czech Republic, with Šárka being the sole woman on the production team. Both are super passionate about what they do, and in this blog, we’ll see what drove them to their fields, and what they think about the men women divide.   

What exactly does your job entail? 

Šárka: I’ve been working as an API operator in the production team for 12 years now, and I’m the only woman on my team. Our team produces two immunosuppressive substances – cyclosporine and micophenolate mofetil. We work in 12-hour shifts around the clock because the machines we use cannot stop due to the chemical reactions they’re making.   

Petra: I’ve been working in the Quality Control (QC) department for 11 years. Originally, I was a quality analyst but after a few years, I was promoted to quality laboratory planner. Essentially, I take the samples provided to us by the production team and work out exactly what tests and what analyses need to be done for each customer.   

Šárka: Say I produce around 100kg of a substance, I’ll pass just 20 grams over to Petra! 

How did you get into this field? 

Šárka: Growing up, I always loved my chemistry classes at school. My sister was also a chemistry teacher and used to do fun experiments with me. We’d do color experiments at home and make mini eruptions too. These experiences paved the way for my career, as right when I finished school, I applied for a position in the production team at Teva, and I’ve been here ever since!  

Petra: I’ve known about this plant ever since I was a child, as part of my family worked here. Some of them are still here today! I studied Pharmacy at university and worked as a pharmacy assistant for 8 years before hearing about and opening in Opava and moving to Teva api.  

Šárka, how is it to be the only woman among so many men, in a field that is heavily male-oriented and involves a lot of manual labor? 

Šárka: For me, it’s totally fine. I’ve never really given it too much thought. I’ve always been very strong. I’m from a small village near Ostrava, so as a child I was always doing a lot of manual work in the house and the field – cutting grass and tending to the animals. There was never any distinction made between girls and boys in my childhood. I think women in the chemical industry have to be physically and mentally strong and should also have a lot of self-confidence. I think I’m optimistic and the men think I have a good sense of humor.  

Petra: I agree, and I had the same experience growing up. It was just me and my sister at home, and we had to help around the house. I remember carrying heavy bags of coal that we used for heating (in the days before we had gas!) 

Do you think as a woman you bring anything unique to the table? 

Šárka: Yes, I think I bring new ideas to the team and to our working practices. In general, I think women are more disciplined than men and bring order to the workplace.  

Petra: I agree. In QC, there tend to be more women than men. In the lab, you need to be very precise and thorough which is why I think it’s more suited to women.   

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time? 

Šárka: I love nature, spending time with my parrot and my horse, and riding my motorbike! 

Petra: I like to relax by reading, walking, or going to the cinema. I’m also really into geocaching these days which is great if you want to travel but you don’t know where to go. You just look up where they have geocaches and that’s your next destination.   

Since this blog was originally shared on April 12, 2022, Hagit Eisen has taken over the role of Scientific Support for Europe.

There are two things that all 4 members of Teva api’s scientific support team have in common. One is that they are all chemists with strong backgrounds in R&D (we’re talking 60+ years combined!). And two, they all use their broad experiences and varied skillsets to support customers in the most holistic and well-rounded way possible.

Meet Revital, who leads the technical and scientific services for the Asia-Pacific region. Revital has been at Teva api for 23 years, first in R&D and for the last 10 years in her current role. She describes the scientific support expert as the link between the customer and R&D, who supports on all technical matters throughout the whole API journey.

The scientific support expert represents the customer inside the Teva api organization, explaining customer requirements and challenges to the various global units including R&D, Regulatory Affairs, production sites, solid-state experts and site Quality Assurance. They help to align on the necessary chemical and physical quality specifications, and are deeply involved during formulation development.

Revital explains that the main goal of the scientific support team is to enhance customer satisfaction.

“Due to the complex nature of our industry, anomalies will occasionally occur. When it happens, we are there to support and identify the root cause and accelerate the solutions. Together with the customer, we review the issues in details and suggest solutions, such as method harmonization, setting different impurity limits or many other solutions.”

She also puts focus on the ‘speed’ of her team’s help, adding that “we are here to support our customers in an expedited way to assure an optimized experience working with us”. In Japan, which is the main country in her region, this needs to be done “while paying special attention to the Japanese regulatory standards”.

Meet Joanna. Joanna is based in the New Jersey office and manages scientific support queries for customers in North America and India. She’s been in this position for 4 years now, following a broad scientific career.

She holds a PhD degree in organic synthesis and her first job was as a lab chemist in a branded company developing processes to make new APIs for new drug candidates. She also worked as an engineer on a GMP pilot plant floor and learned about manufacturing processes and GMP compliance.

Later in her career, she worked as a project manager managing all aspects of the API drug development process, which included finding the best synthetic route, managing timelines, and selecting the form of the API with the best physical properties. This comprised of characteristics such as hygroscopicity, chemical stability, storage conditions and crystal forms. “The molecule needs to be stable and developable. Every aspect is being considered here.”

When Joanna joined Teva, she took the position of project manager for generic drug development for both oral solids as well injectable finished product dosage forms. This experience gave her a good understanding of what customers are doing, and of the challenges of developing new generic drugs.

“It gave me broad knowledge in regulatory and quality aspects, development timelines, physical properties of material, stability, shelf life, relevance of particle size and testing methodologies. All this allows me to understand customer needs and why they ask the questions they do.”

Joanna explains how this broad experience has contributed significantly to the role she’s in now. “I quickly realized my breadth of experience was extremely valuable. I could touch on every single problem and know the approach to solve it. The role of scientific support is to facilitate resolutions to problems by applying scientific skills, a breadth of knowledge, and by asking the right questions. By working with the customer and the manufacturing site we can listen to one another and find acceptable solutions. It’s a rewarding job.”

Meet Maico, scientific support expert for Latin America. Based in Brazil, Maico has always focused on APIs. He started his career in API research, in preformulation studies, which included drug-excipient compatibility studies, PSD and polymorphism. When he moved to Teva api, he decided he wanted to use his knowledge but be customer-facing.

“Helping the customers is what motivates me. I recently had a case where a customer in Argentina needed help with a compatibility study. Their formulation wasn’t stable. For a full month, I showed them how to perform the experiment — to predict potential interactions between the API and the excipients. And we did it in the end!”

For Maico, the ‘people side’ of the job is key. He enjoys being the ‘middle man’, navigating between R&D and commercial. As he says, “it’s the great strength of our area. We have the power in our hands to show the customer Teva api’s capabilities.”

Maico explains how, in Latin America, specifically Brazil, API regulations are extremely specific. So dealing with the scientific support queries that come in can also be very different to other markets.

Meet Nurit. Nurit deals with scientific support questions coming from Europe, from local to multinational companies.

With a PhD in organic chemistry and an MBA to her name, Nurit spent 12 years in Teva api’s R&D department, and 3 years in the procurement team responsible for scientific and development topics, before moving to Scientific Support.

“I thought it would be interesting to see the business world and get an insight into the customer perspective. I’m still having a scientific discussion but it’s from a different angle.”

What Nurit finds most interesting about her role in scientific support is dealing with the challenges and finding ‘out-of-the-box’ solutions.

“Now, instead of dealing with materials and powders in the lab, I’m dealing with people. Together with the professional teams we have on the production sites, I’m finding the solutions that best support our customers’ needs and expectations.”

If you want to learn more about how the scientific support team, or any of our other departments, can help you and your company throughout your API journey, please feel free to reach out to us today!

With 16 years of chemical engineering experience under his belt, Vinay Sharma has spent 11 of those at Teva api. He’s now General Manager for the Malanpur site in India, and loves the freedom he has to challenge the traditional approach.

I consider myself lucky because I’ve worked at 3 Teva locations, in 6 positions. I started off as a process engineer at the Gajraula site, and then spent 7 wonderful years in technology transfer and operational excellence in Malanpur. After that, I worked at the Head Office in Greater Noida for 2 years as a supply chain lead for India. Six months ago, I received a new assignment to lead site operations at the Malanpur site. It’s been an exciting journey so far and I’m proud of all my achievements to date.

I’m responsible for the output of 20 products at the Malanpur site. One product is an intermediate and the rest are APIs. We’re in the synthetic business, and the majority of our products are sartans and statins, that have very tough competition. In Malanpur, every day is interesting and challenging.

Our output is enormous. We are currently working 70 customers in 30 countries. We dispatch 4-5 orders per week, which is close to 250 to 300 metric tons per annum of APIs dispatched all over the world.

The pandemic was a real ‘acid test’ for us. We couldn’t just stop production. We were very aware that many people were waiting for us for this medicine. We had to take proactive decisions based on prioritization. We had to decide, together with the Supply Chain and Commercial teams, what were the top products needed at that moment and then run only with them. And not only did we do it, but we met all expectations. Our reliability was at close to 96%, meaning what we promised to our customers reached them in 96% of cases.

Our field is highly “VUCA”! This stands for Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguity. Every day we’re dealing with changes. Sometimes we need to boost or drop production rates at an instant, due to demand fluctuations or competitiveness. Our agility helps us absorb any challenge we encounter. The show must always go on! We need to support our business, patients and customers the right way.

Everyone has 24 hours in their day. I spend most of my 24 hours trying to challenge myself and my teammates. We cannot just continue to do the same thing and expect outstanding results.
And in my spare time, I play cricket! We even have company cricket tournaments every winter.

Whether he’s bike riding, piano playing, or selling APIs to big pharma companies, Specialty Sales Director, Yehuda Meyer, is fully invested in what he enjoys doing.   

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” (Albert Einstein) I love this quote because it’s so accurate! I’m an avid bike rider. When I turned 50, I took three weeks off work and rode across the country (Israel) from north to south on my bike.

I’ve been with Teva for over 20 years and I hope to be here at least another 20! I’ve seen the ups and the downs. We’ve gone through tough times and have had to part from very close colleagues and friends. One thing I can say with confidence is that every time we’ve been successful, it is because of team work and humility, leaving ego outside of the room. The key to our success has been when people are focused on getting good results for the team and the company.

There’s a funny story about how I came to Teva. I was working in a patent attorneys’ office, representing big pharma companies, and there was a trial against Teva. I had to testify on behalf of one of those companies against Teva. When the Teva people saw me there, they said, “We want this guy”.

I’m a chemist by education, a patent attorney by training, and a salesman by occupation. I was in the patent world for 11 years. I saw what was going on in sales and wanted to jump aboard! The manager of the Teva api division at that time told me that despite the fact that I’d “never sold a piece of chewing gum”, he’d give me a chance. 14 years later and I’m still here!

It’s the people who can make the change. At the end of the day, sales is about people. It’s about the customer sitting in front of you asking themselves, “do I want to spend the next few years working with this person or with the person from the other company?” I try to maximize my interpersonal skills to bring about success – both for my customers and for Teva api.

My focus is the big pharma companies and I’ve learnt that patience is crucial. While Teva’s main line of business is generics, we also work with the big pharma world which requires a different approach. We’re talking about extremely large companies, where the decision making is very high up. We need to be humble, smart and have a lot of patience. It’s about doing a lot of things right, over a course of many years, until we have great cooperation.

The industry is based on science, and the science doesn’t always work in our favor. And then we have crises — a customer has placed an order, is waiting for their material, and we cannot deliver on time. While this is a common issue across the industry, how one manages the crisis and responds to the customer is what differentiates a good company from others. It’s about being transparent and telling them the true story. This is what they really need and appreciate.

Building integrity is important both on a company level and on a personal level. My aim is to make every customer know and feel that I’m there for them. That their success is our success.

Teva is home, it feels like family. The atmosphere is unique. It’s a great place to work. We offer 350+ different API’s but the one that we produce most is adrenaline! If we’re spending half the time we’re awake in the work place, it should be a place like Teva.

“It’s like doing magic every single day!” Marina Yarovoy is Downstream Process Manager in Teva api’s R&D team, and is based in Israel. She describes her passion for all things chemistry and why the generics industry is so inspiring.

Teva api was my first job in chemistry! I started in the team shortly after graduating from university with a BSc in chemistry. That was 14 years ago. After being a researcher for 9 years, I then got promoted to team leader. It was a great opportunity for me! I love the dual role of managing the development of a product while guiding people. I learn a lot through teaching others.

While working, I embarked on and completed my master’s degree in organic chemistry. It was a unique opportunity and I am thankful to all the people who supported me. Even my thesis revolved around one of Teva’s projects. It was like a dream come true for me!

I am now building a new department which is a huge learning experience. I was recently promoted to downstream process manager. Taking my productivity to a new level, I will now oversee the whole chain and give special attention to the purification, ultra-filtration and freeze-drying processes. I’m excited to lead my teams, and my ultimate vision is implementing agile workflows supported by cutting-edge technologies.

I really like baking and cooking, which is the perfect example of chemistry. I believe that chemistry is a way to understand the world around us. Chemistry is something I’ve been passionate about from a young age. In fact, my grandmother was an analytical chemist back in the USSR days, so maybe it’s in the genes!

There’s inspiration in generics. Hundreds of years ago, if you had a headache, there was no medication to take. The pharma industry gives us the opportunity to address and overcome health issues. This is especially true in the generics industry. For example, a cousin of mine had a medical problem and received a prescription for a costly medication. I explained to him that he could get a generic version for one-tenth of the price. Generics make medicine accessible, opening new opportunities to previously closed markets, and sometimes these drugs can even result in life-changing situations. It’s extremely motivating.

In university chemistry is an exact science, but in reality it’s also an experimental science. It can surprise you but it can also disappoint you. Chemical reactions don’t always react as expected!  It can be really challenging. You need the patience to understand your molecules and understand their unique needs – like a relationship!

I believe that there is no problem that isn’t solvable. There is always a solution for any problem. It’s just depends on external factors like time, money, and resources that you need to invest in, to make it work.

The people I work with share the same DNA. They’re very dedicated, they love their job, and enjoy the challenges. I feel that they are with me on this mission. I truly believe that a good team is the key for success.

It’s the human connection between the team that helps us succeed. As a manager, it is crucial to understand the people you work with and to know what drives them. Every single day, I make the effort to recognize each team member and their efforts. Sometimes it’s not about being successful in a specific mission, but the steps and efforts that are made to get there.

I think I’ll be at Teva for many years to come! I like the people around me, I keep growing here, and I feel that my efforts are genuinely recognized. It’s a great place to do the work I love and I feel proud at the end of each day.

“Every day I get up and go to work and see a new problem, an opportunity to learn something new – and this is what I really appreciate.” Lena Ben Moha-Lerman is Senior. Dir. Lifecycle Management at Teva api R&D, supervising R&D activities for post-submission products with 6 R&D teams from all around the world. She talks to us about her passion for becoming a Scientist, her inspiration, and what she loves about working in Generics.

It felt really natural for me to go to the biggest generics company in Israel, one of the market leaders the world over.

I’ve been with Teva api R&D since 2007, right after finishing my PhD in Medicinal Chemistry. I started out in API R&D as a Senior Scientist, and quickly got promoted to Team Leader. After a few years I became the Head of the Chemical R&D department, and more recently in 2018, I’ve taken on a more global function, supervising products from submission to commercialization across 6 teams worldwide.

I credit it all to my chemistry teacher!

I had a perfect chemistry teacher, she was incredibly inspiring. Looking back, this was the only reason why I decided to go forward in this field. I actually didn’t even submit my application to any other track! I don’t regret it for a minute. My first degree was in medicinal chemistry, and then I took a direct path to PhD. Altogether, I was in university for 9 years.

It’s an amazing feeling to know that every day we’re working on the development of many life-saving APIs.

I’m so proud of my API R&D teams, we’re doing life-saving work. I look at the Teva api portfolio and I know that a lot of very important products were developed in my teams, and that’s incredible to know.
Whoever is a scientist by nature will never get too far from it. As with any position, as you become more senior, you have less opportunity to dive into the details, in my case, in API Research and Development, that’s the science. But every time there is a complex issue to solve, I’m reaching back in, and directing teams which way to go, transferring know-how or skills from one team to another, or supporting with scientific guidance and troubleshooting. I love that.

I look at APIs and Generics like a puzzle that needs to be solved.

When you’re working in a generics company, there are so many pieces to put into place. You know what the final picture should look like, but you have to combine the puzzle pieces and overcome issues like IP restrictions and innovator hurdles, and competition from other companies in Pharma. These are the challenges that are blocking our way to breaking down the code and generating the molecule. We really have to use out-of-the-box thinking and be creative.

Not many people can say that they are constantly learning, so that’s a really unique benefit of my job.

I learn something new every single day. Of course, there are challenges, being exposed to global teams and cultures, getting to know new people all the time, and how to work across teams that include customer success, sales, marketing, regulatory affairs, and more. But every day I get up and go to work I know that I will learn something new, something that I didn’t know yesterday – and this is what I really appreciate. This opportunity to learn is incredibly valuable.

You will face a lot of failures before you find success.

I find that in my job, you have to be optimistic. In science generally, failure is an embedded part of the process. So you have to believe in yourself, and in your innovation and your capability to solve a problem. That also means not taking to heart the failures, because it’s part of the process, and the day after you will rise up again! I love the feeling of going into the Pharmacy and seeing on the shelf a medicine with Teva’s logo and knowing that the API came from my team. It’s where I see the fruits of my labor, and it’s an amazing moment for me, every time.

I’m looking forward to returning to travel!

I have a few hobbies, such as playing piano which I love doing in my spare time. I also like to travel to see new places and to meet people from different cultures. As part of my job I used to travel frequently, and as a family we always took a vacation once a year to a new place. I do hope that everything will stabilize soon, and that we’ll all be able to travel again before too long.

Zvonimir Lackovic tells us what it’s like working in API manufacturing, as a chemist in Production, and explains how it’s just like playing a challenging round of chess! Read the full blog, here.

Teva api was my first job out of college. My journey to Pharma API manufacturing started back in 2012, when I started out at Teva api as a chemist in the R&D lab. Within the first few months I saw my future in this industry, I could see that there were great opportunities here, and the company recognized my knowledge and my work ethic.

What is the Teva api R&D lab like?
We have a steady flow of API compounds, and pride ourselves on providing customers with early launch opportunities, innovating where we can create value. That’s actually one of our company values. And so we are constantly innovating in order to implement new technologies and support highly-complex products.

I knew from preschool I wanted to work in chemistry! I had a great teacher when I was very young, she was a teacher and also a chemist. I saw myself working in a lab or in production, and I’ve now done both! I always wanted to help people. For some, that’s about becoming a doctor or a teacher, but I wanted to do things a bit differently, so I started to think about making medicines.

Every day is different at Teva api. I now work in production, where we are developing and producing Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients. With such a large portfolio of products, you can be sure that the next day or the next week, you’ll be working on another product! The work is very dynamic, and I need to be flexible, open-minded, and ready for anything.

We know how important our work is. I think the biggest challenge working in Pharmaceuticals is the time. We are making these products for people who are sick, they don’t have time to wait. We know who is waiting for us to get our work done, and this is special and important, but it’s also a great challenge.

The industry has changed over the past decade! I worked in the lab in R&D for two years, and then in 2014 I moved to production. More recently, I moved to a new plant, it’s more modern and has a lot of new technologies, too. It’s great to be at Teva, where we’re leading the industry, and you can see that across the whole company. For me, it’s shown by Teva giving us cutting-edge tools to make our jobs easier, and which allow us to be more accurate and give greater precision. Innovation has a measurable impact on the products we create, our APIs have high purity, we can get products out faster, and more.

My job is like a game of chess. You always have to be thinking to work in this field. Like in chess, you want to be a couple of moves ahead so that you can do the best job possible. You never want to be stepping into the unknown. I’m a perfectionist, so although I’m not a control freak – I do like knowing what to expect!
My knowledge and experience keeps me cool-headed. It’s important to keep a cool head, and to be creative about problem solving. I like to think about a situation, and consider what I can do to help others and to get us past a challenge. It’s also important to work as a team. You might have special abilities, but you can’t do anything solo. Being a team player is so important if you want to achieve.

Working in a dynamic area keeps me on my toes. I love working with other departments such as API R&D or Quality Assurance, and we have such a broad portfolio that it’s never boring! If you have a job where you do the same thing every day, you can get lazy, your mind can become lazy. That’s what I think of as a routine job. My job is the opposite of that! It keeps you in shape. We always have new products and transfers to think about, and with new products every two weeks, I’m always learning new procedures and science, and that keeps me sharp.

I’m an outdoorsy person. Making time for yourself is really important. In my spare time, I’m quite a sporty guy. I like to train, I’ve spent a lot of time weight-lifting, hiking, and I enjoy kayaking with friends, too. I love to spend time with my family and friends.