Meet the experts

Samuel Frere and Elena Lapkina Gendler work in the non-clinical research lab in Netanya, Israel. The role of the lab is to provide evidence for the potential of drugs in development and the mechanisms of their action.

Samuel and Elena have different specialties that allow their group to test the effect of Teva drugs on gene expression and on cellular function.

Maša is an Associate Director for Research and Development, Physical Characterisation, at Teva API, responsible for a team researching solid-state active substances – which is the process that turns effective treatments into viable products for people.

Barak is the Associate Director, Head of Bioprocess Technologies, CMC Biosimilars. Barak and his team are responsible for developing biosimilar products.

Biopharmaceuticals are complex medicines made from living cells or organisms. A biosimilar is defined as a large, complex molecule that is highly similar to and has no clinically meaningful differences in safety, purity, and potency from the reference product.

Boglárka is the Manager of Biotechnology R&D at Debrecen, Hungary. Boglárka and her team are responsible for developing new and existing Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) that are produced by fermentation.

Ivana is a lead scientist in the development of complex sterile medicines at Teva Croatia. Ivana takes on the roles of leading the development of potentially very important complex drugs, but also supporting it by communication with the relevant drug approval agencies, such as the FDA (The USA’s Food and Drug Administration).

Mike works on the development of medical devices and combination products, such as auto-injectors and pre-filled syringes, which dispense drugs into the body. It is precise and painstaking work as the wrong dosage could have significant consequences for patients.

Paula runs Teva’s dedicated clinical trials facility in Florida, where healthy volunteers help to test the safety and efficacy of drugs before they receive regulatory approval.

Janet leads the team responsible for regulatory affairs for one of the largest and most diversified generics portfolios in the industry. Medicines regulation touches all aspects of the pharmaceutical business and impacts every step in the drug development process.

Cory Wohlbach is responsible for steering Teva’s new biosimilar products through the regulatory approval process. He explains what biosimilars are, how they have the potential to reduce costs for patients and how patient safety is always a top priority.

Romana is a Site General Manager based in Zagreb, Croatia, where Teva makes the active pharmaceutical ingredients that make up a drug. Through the areas where Romana leads, teams work across the whole process, from research and development to production and commercial distribution.

Sara runs a huge supply chain operation across several sites in the United States. A supply chain is when raw materials are transformed through the manufacturing and packaging process before being delivered to customers.

Amy works in the engineering department at Teva’s plant in Runcorn, UK. It’s her job to make sure that medicines come off the packaging line as quickly and smoothly as possible.

Rebecca is Principal Mechanical Engineer for Sterile Device Technology at Teva. She handles specifications and technical documentation for projects, to get things in place ready for production. Rebecca also makes sure the risk management documentation is in order.

Jeannette is Senior Director for the manufacturing, technology and science group at Teva API, overseeing process improvements, including the introduction of new technology and products.

Jack heads up Teva’s Environment, Health and Safety function in Europe. It’s his job to make sure the company’s many European factories, research and development sites, and offices are all safe to work in, so that anyone who enters one of our facilities in the morning will leave safely by the end of the day.

Ed Kinkler is Senior Manager for Logistics Chain and Product Security in the Americas. Ed’s role is to ensure that Teva’s medicines are stored and transported to their destinations safely. He is fighting a constant battle with criminals who want to get their hands on these highly valuable products.

Beata is the Operational Quality Assurance Manager in Debrecen, Hungary, where she leads a team of 22 colleagues. Beata’s role is to ensure the quality of Teva products by overseeing the manufacturing of bulk products, from their arrival through their release in batches. This includes responsibility for preparation of inspections and audits, and implementation of continuous improvement processes to ensure compliance.

Mar is Head of Supply Chain for International Markets and Israel & Asia Pacific. Mar’s role is to make sure the right countries receive the right amount of medicines at the right time.

Gill is a warehouse operative in a distribution centre in the UK. Former captain of the England women’s football team, she is the first woman to have played in over 100 international games for England and overall has made 119 international appearances, making her one of the most prolific international players in English football history.

Sebastian is Head of Global Patient Safety and Pharmacovigilance; he is responsible for managing safety information for Teva’s product portfolio and ensuring patient safety comes first. Sebastian highlights the vital importance of patient safety and the process of building trust.

We keep monitoring medicines after they become available to patients to check there aren’t any unexpected side effects. It’s Vanessa’s job to investigate cases where the unexpected does occur, find out what happened and make recommendations to help keep patients safe in the future.

As part of the Global Corporate Security team, Kris leads Teva’s worldwide efforts to protect patients from potentially toxic fake medicines. He collaborates with international agencies to hunt down and dismantle billion-euro counterfeit medicine operations.

Dr Riad Dirani specializes in researching the clinical, economic and human impact of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, asthma and diabetes. Riad outlines how his work is helping tackle an “invisible epidemic” and how his Dad’s unexpected experience with diabetes led him to a career in the pharma industry.