Teva Pharmaceutical Industries has sewn up its deal for Japan’s Taiyo Pharmaceutical. The Israeli generics giant is paying $460 million for a 57 percent interest, with plans to extend its bid to the remaining minority shareholders in a deal valuing Taiyo at $1.3 billion. It’s just the latest $1 billion-plus deal for Teva, which agreed to buy Cephalon earlier this month.

The Taiyo buy will boost Teva’s presence in Japan, a generics market the company is aiming to dominate. With Taiyo’s portfolio of 550 drugs–plus $530 million in 2010 sales–Teva will be able to hit its target of $1 billion in Japanese sales ahead of its 2015 goal. “This acquisition will enable Teva to deliver on our strategic objective of becoming a leading player in the fast-growing Japanese generics market,” CEO Shlomo Yanai said in a statement.

As the FT notes, Japan’s generics market is heating up because of the government’s push to increase utilization of copycat drugs. Now, generics only represent 23 percent of the drug market, and the government wants to push that up to 30 percent.

Don’t expect this deal to be Teva’s last, either. Yanai said at a press briefing in Tokyo that his company is always looking for acquisitions, and that won’t stop. “We are scrutinizing constantly the opportunities and in due time we will move for further acquisitions when we find them a … strategic fit,” Yanai said (as quoted by Reuters).

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Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NASDAQ: TEVA) sees chances to grow in Latin America, including such major markets as Brazil and Mexico. Eyal Desheh, Teva’s CFO, said the company doesn’t have the right presence in Brazil right now, and it should be able to get bigger in Mexico. He made these comments Thursday at the 2010 Citi Investment Research Global Health Care Conference.

Without going into detail about specific countries, Desheh said there are also opportunities in Asia. He also said not to discount Europe. The generics giant has made moves there this year, beating out Pfizer and Actavis in its bid for Ratiopharm.

Despite the economic crisis in Europe, Teva sees no major impact on its business. The reported price cuts are targeted at innovative products, noted Desheh. He added that the same phenomenon was seen last year in the U.S., leading to a movement away from expensive innovative products to generics.

He also commented on the rising numbers of Form 483s, saying that the FDA is raising the bar of quality for everyone. Indeed, at least 43 drug factories have received government warnings in recent months for failing to correct manufacturing practices, a USA Today article notes. Teva received one for injectable propofol, and the article discusses the problems the company has faced with the product. Teva recalled propofol made in California after 41 patients developed post-operative fever and other symptoms the company said may indicate exposure to bacterial toxins, the article notes. And in December, the FDA issued a warning letter saying the company had not done proper bacterial testing.

Desheh said the FDA’s actions have been a great wake up call for the company, and Teva is working “around the clock to fix everything.” He did point out, however, that the profitability of the product had been declining over the past couple of years.

Later in the day, the Wall Street Journal reported that Teva has told federal regulators that it will stop making propofol–something spokeswoman Denise Bradley confirmed in an emailed statement.

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Teva Pharmaceutical Industries is always on the lookout for a good buy. And this time, the Israeli company is looking to build up its women’s health business, scouting about for products to help grow that segment to $1 billion in annual sales.

That’s triple what Teva does in that market right now. About $650 million of that amount is likely to come via acquisition of contraceptive products from other drugmakers, Bloombergreports.

Teva CEO Shlomo Yanai has said that his company is eyeing several buyout opportunities, although he hasn’t named names (yet). One analyst identified two possibilities: Merck’s women’s health division and Abbott’s women’s health business. Those two companies wouldn’t comment for Bloomberg, but Bill Marth, CEO of Teva North America, tells the news service, “We wouldn’t rule anything out.”

Teva has augmented its women’s health business via acquisition before: When it bought Barr Pharmaceuticals in 2008, it obtained that company’s Plan B product, the emergency contraceptive known as the “morning after pill.”

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Cambridge, MA-based Mersana Therapeutics has forged its first big licensing pact, inking a $334 million collaboration deal with Teva for a preclinical cancer drug program.

Under the deal, Mersana will be responsible for taking XMT-1107 into Phase I during this quarter before passing it on to Teva’s control.

The Israeli company, which has been ambitiously building up its pipeline for novel therapies as it expands beyond generics, will cover program research costs from this point. In exchange for what Mersana CEO Julie Olson, Ph.D., calls a “significant,” though unstated, upfront payment along with the milestones and the commitment to pay for development, Teva gets worldwide commercial rights–excluding Japan.

Mersana’s Fleximer technology uses a biodegradable polymer derived from sugars to change the way a drug is delivered in the human body, an approach that can be used to salvage once-promising therapies that have foundered due to safety concerns. By more precisely delivering measured therapeutic payloads to target cells, the polymer reduces the level of therapy in the system, reducing the chances of collateral damage. XMT-1107 is a conjugate of fumagillin, which demonstrated anti-tumor activity in Phase I and II trials before central nervous system toxicity was seen in patients.

The cancer therapy is actually Mersana’s second development program.

Its lead is held by XMT-1001, an unpartnered conjugate of Fleximer and camptothecin, which is currently completing a Phase I study and is destined for a mid-stage trial in 2011. Mersana has also been exploring the applications its technology might have in siRNA development programs.

So far, says Olson, the company has raised $35 million. The staff has grown to about 20, but Olson expects to see that figure swell to 25 or 26 later this year. “The Teva support takes that program out of the budget, which is helpful,” adds Olson, the former licensing chief for Pfizer. “We’ll be going out for additional money,” but the company for now will be focusing on the value-creating programs that can be added in 2011.

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