The Media Line: What Could Happen When Israel’s Pharma Giant Meets Its Most Innovative Hospital?

What Could Happen When Israel’s Pharma Giant Meets Its Most Innovative Hospital? 

By Maayan Hoffman/The Media Line Staff 

The agreement is designed to move Israeli technologies from the pilot stage into hospitals, manufacturing, and global deployment  

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and ARC Innovation, the global innovation arm of Sheba Medical Center, signed an agreement at the end of last month to collaborate on innovation, medical research, and digital health. The move aims to help local help local startups scale internationally, accelerate health care innovation, and improve patient care.  

Igal Gurevich, head of strategic partnerships and corporate affairs for Teva, told The Media Line that both Teva and Sheba are focused on improving patient outcomes. If artificial intelligence or another technology can help improve medication adherence or other aspects of care, he said, it creates value for both organizations. “This should significantly accelerate the adoption of new technologies,” he said. “And ultimately everything comes back to the patient.”  

“Teva benefits because patients use medications more effectively,” he explained. “Sheba benefits because patients receive better care. The startup benefits too. But most importantly, the patient benefits. Technology can improve the effectiveness of both hospital treatment and pharmaceutical treatment.”  

Angela Rabinovich, ARC’s chief business officer, expressed similar sentiments. She told The Media Line that the partnership is “about bringing together two organizations with a global innovation mindset and a shared drive to change healthcare. ARC and Teva each bring different strengths, and the structured model we’ve built allows us to create something bigger than the sum of its parts.”  

The collaboration gained momentum after both organizations won grants from the Israel Innovation Authority in December to establish pilot sites for Israeli technology companies. Now, the two organizations will work together to advance joint projects in open innovation, research and development collaboration, and initiatives across the health care value chain.  

“The idea is that we’re opening the doors of both Teva and ARC to Israeli startups so they can validate technologies that are relevant to our organizations,” Gurevich said.  

ARC has already established and invested in more than 100 health care startups and currently operates in 10 countries worldwide through partnerships with leading hospitals and medical centers.   

The partnership also complements Teva Rise, Teva’s new global open innovation platform designed to harness emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, Industry 4.0 smart manufacturing, digital health, and biotechnology, by connecting startups and advanced technology companies with Teva’s business units.  

“We each identify challenges and tell startups, ‘If you have an interesting technological solution, whether AI-based or not, we’d like to hear from you.’ We can then work together on projects,” Gurevich said.  

 

As part of the agreement, a joint steering committee has been established and will meet quarterly to evaluate potential projects. The organizations have also created working groups to advance those initiatives.  

So far, Teva and ARC have identified three primary areas of collaboration.  

The first is work with startups. If a startup approaches Teva, for example, the company can now offer wider opportunities in addition to access to the pharmaceutical world. While Teva operates across the entire value chain, from research and development to manufacturing and logistics, Gurevich said startups will now also be able to access Sheba Medical Center.  

“A startup can potentially test and deploy its technology at Teva sites in Israel and around the world, as well as at Sheba,” he said. “The same works in reverse. Startups coming through Sheba can be referred to Teva.”  

A second area is clinical research and development collaboration. Teva develops drugs, conducts molecular searches, and conducts research. Technology can make those processes faster and more efficient. ARC has researchers, physicians, and laboratories, creating opportunities for collaboration between two major research and development players through joint studies, experiments, and innovation projects.   

The third area focuses on logistics and operations. Here, Gurevich said, the organizations face many similar challenges. For example, Teva may be trying to solve a problem related to the cold-chain storage and transportation of medications, while hospitals face similar challenges in getting those medications from the warehouse to the patient.  

“At Teva, through Teva Rise, we appointed about 60 innovation leaders around the world,” Gurevich said. “They identify challenges that, if solved, could shorten drug-development timelines, improve manufacturing processes, improve supply chains and logistics, increase patient adherence and compliance, or advance personalized medicine. ARC has a similar process. Then we compare notes and look for overlaps.” He explained that working groups meet to review challenges and identify where collaboration makes sense.  

Sometimes, he said, Teva has a challenge that ARC’s researchers or startups may be able to solve, and vice versa.  

Teva and ARC did not apply for the Innovation Authority grants together. Neither organization knew the other was applying. But after the authority announced the awards, discussions accelerated, both sides said.  

“I actually give a lot of credit to the Innovation Authority,” Gurevich commented. “Through one government program, they unintentionally connected two major organizations.”  

Few organizations in Israel are both deeply rooted in the country and globally successful. Teva and Sheba are both well-established in Israel and abroad. Gurevich said that when two organizations like that collaborate, it matters.  

“The startup ecosystem isn’t interested only in Israel,” Gurevich explained. “It wants to expand globally. We’re serving as enablers. We’re giving startups access not only to two major institutions in Israel but also, through us, to opportunities around the world.”  

The Innovation Authority program runs through the end of 2028. Each organization funds its own activities, and no specific budget was set for the partnership itself. Gurevich said budgets will be determined on a project-by-project basis. Some projects may cost tens of thousands of dollars. Others could cost millions.  

“Together, we’re building a comprehensive platform that connects both worlds in a way neither could achieve alone,” Rabinovich concluded.