Shares of Teva, the world's largest generic drugmaker, dropped more than 5 percent Tuesday after the company announced Siggi Olafsson was officially stepping down as the head of its global generic medicine group.
According to a Monday release, Dipankar Bhattacharjee, who has been CEO of Teva Generics Europe since 2013, will succeed Olafsson, who will remain active with the company until the end of the first quarter of 2017.
Olafsson's departure comes as a surprise since he was a key person behind Teva's $33.5 billion acquisition earlier this year of Actavis, the generic medicines division of Allergan.
In the release, Teva CEO Erez Vigodman commented on the progress of the Actavis transition and affirmed Bhattacharjee's appointment.
"As we continue to focus on integrating and realizing the value of the Actavis Generics transaction, which is progressing according to plan, Dipankar and his team will focus on generating organic growth through new launches and replenishing the pipeline through our industry-leading research and development, and drive efficiencies across the generics organization," Vigodman said. "Teva will benefit from Dipankar's extensive experience in generics and specialty medicines."
The Monday statement also reaffirmed the company's full-year guidance for revenue between $21.6 billion and $21.9 billion and adjusted earnings between $5.10 per share and $5.20 per share.
Teva added that it now expects to provide its 2017 guidance in January.
— Reuters contributed to this report.