Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd or TEVA Thursday said it is looking for buyouts in Asia to boost sales in the region and to expand its product lines, the media reports said.

Chief Financial Officer Eyal Desheh said, “A lot of the future growth of the generic industries is going to happen in Asia.” In 2011, TEVA bought 57% stake in Japan-based Taiyo Pharmaceutical Industry Co for $460 million in cash, Desheh added.

He is of the view that apart from Asia, Brazil is a major market that the world’s biggest generic drug maker needs to get into for the deal. Mr. Desheh also said, “The key is very local businesses.” He also listed countries like India, China, Philippines, Vietnam and Korea.  Mr. Eyal also opined, “We’ll have to go one by one, a lot of footwork, country by country. None of these will be huge acquisitions and this push may take a few years.” 

The Israel-based pharmaceutical company appointed the former executive at Bristol-Myers Squibb Co Jeremy Levin as its new chief executive officer last week, the news reports said.

Jeremy Levin has helped in developing research agreements  for Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries is an international pharmaceutical company based in Petah Tikva in Israel.

The main focus areas of the world’s biggest generic drug maker includes generic and proprietary pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients, the news reports said. TEVA is ranked as the tenth largest company by market capitalization on the Nasdaq.