Ivax has no less than 700 scientists in laboratories around the world developing proprietary drugs.
Ivax's generic version of Taxol has been on the market for over a year.
The company ships active ingredients in bulk to generics heavies such as Teva and Ivax.
Ivax's operating cash had declined but reported earnings had increased because of deferred taxes.
That phase of his high-octane career culminated in the sale of his Miami-based pharmaceutical company, Ivax Corp.
FORBES: Teva Chairman Continues To Seek Undervalued Biopharmaceuticals
One reason that Ivax makes sense as a merger partner is that it, too, sells branded medicines.
Ivax launched a generic that slightly differs from the branded version in August.
The biggest losers among the red lights were Calpine, off 80% since last year's list, and Ivax, off 58%.
Ivax Chief Executive Phillip Frost and other management shareholders have pledged the 19% of Ivax shares they own to the acquisition.
From 1999 to 2000, Ivax's net margins increased from 11% to 17%.
That's because rival Ivax introduced the first generic version last fall, after Bristol lost a bitter battle to keep it off the market.
For example, Miami-based Ivax (amex: IVX - news - people) derived nearly half of its 2000 revenue from proprietary brand products.
One drug to watch as the deal goes through is Mylinax, an oral therapy for multiple sclerosis that Ivax is developing with Teva's rival, Serono.
Before Ivax, Dr. Frost headed a much smaller pharmaceutical company as chairman and CEO of Key Pharmaceuticals, which also ended up being bought out, in 1986.
FORBES: Teva Chairman Continues To Seek Undervalued Biopharmaceuticals
The drug was expected to be a big driver of growth for Ivax because it had the only copycat version of the drug on the market.
Long-term (annualized) earnings growth for Ivax is estimated at 28%.
On the supergeneric front, Ivax is currently developing the oral form of paclitaxel, the generic form of one of the largest selling cancer drugs, Taxol, which is administered intravenously.
Even as Novartis has made a big push into the generic market, Teva and Ivax have made their own effort to move into the higher-margin market for prescription drugs.
Ivax won't disclose how much the government is paying, but Silver says it wouldn't be unheard of for that price to be cut by two-thirds, to 10 cents or 15 cents.
Miami-based Ivax (nyse: IVX - news - people) said today that it was supplying the U.S. government with 1.2 billion pills of doxacycline, an off-patent antibiotic used to treat anthrax.
It is racing with Novartis to produce the first oral therapy for MS. Ivax is also developing a new epilepsy drug and an oral version of the cancer drug Taxol, which must usually be injected.
One drug to watch as the deal goes through is Mylinax, an oral therapy for multiple sclerosis that Ivax is developing with Teva's rival, Serono (nyse: SRA - news - people ).
Then it went on to argue that, under a law that said the labels on generic drugs must match those on their brand-name counterparts, Ivax shouldn't receive approval because it hadn't replicated any of the studies of the drug in children.
Moreover, the disease could be combated not only with Cipro, which is expensive, but also with cheaper drugs such as doxycycline, which the U.S. government bought in spades from generic-drug maker Ivax (nyse: IVX - news - people ).
On a conference call this morning, Teva Chief Executive Israel Makov said that although Teva had considered many acquisitions over the years, Teva has a long-standing relationship with Ivax and has always viewed Ivax as "one of the most attractive and one of the most compelling" strategic opportunities.
Late Friday, Miami-based Ivax (nyse: IVX - news - people ) said it had received tentative approval to sell generic versions of diabetes drug Glucophage, despite brandmaker Bristol-Myers Squibb (nyse: BMY - news - people ) trying to hold things up with discussions regarding the generic drug's label.
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