Teva specializes primarily in generic drugs, but other business interests include branded-drugs, active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and, to a lesser extent, contract manufacturing services and an out-licensing platform.

[7] In 2023, Teva paid the largest fine to date for a domestic antitrust cartel in relation to a criminal investigation by the US Department of Justice into the company's price-fixing.

[8][9] One of its early shareholders, after the company was quoted on the Tel Aviv exchange, was the late British press tycoon Robert Maxwell.

[10] Teva's earliest predecessor was SLE, Ltd., a wholesale drug business founded in 1901 in Ottoman Empire's Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem.

The original registration was under the name Teva Middle East Pharmaceutical & Chemical Works Co. Ltd. in Jerusalem, then part of Mandatory Palestine.

Capital shortage led to the joining of the banker Alfred Feuchtwanger as a partner in Teva, who received 33% of the shares in return for his investment.

[13] Friedländer's business philosophy opined that the pharmaceutical industry has a reliable basis in difficult economic times, since "A Jewish mother will always buy medicine for her children".

After the war, Sir Alan Gordon Cunningham, the last of the High Commissioners for Palestine and Transjordan, visited Teva on behalf of the Secretary of State for the Colonies.

Later on, Teva exported its products to the US, Soviet Union (USSR), health institutes in Denmark, Czechoslovakia, Persia and Burma.

[30] The same month, Teva announced the ¥40 billion purchase of a majority stake in Japanese generic drug company Taiyo Pharmaceutical Industry, a move to secure a Japan-local production facility.

[37] In June 2014, Teva acquired Labrys Biologics for up to $825 million,[38] the aim being to strengthen the company's migraine pipeline through addition of LBR-101, an anti-CGRP monoclonal antibody therapeutic.

[46] In November 2015, the company announced it would collaborate with Heptares Therapeutics with its work on small-molecule calcitonin gene-related peptide antagonists for migraine treatment, with the deal generating up to $410 million.

[51] In August 2017, the board of directors announced a 75% cut in the dividend, reflecting declining profitability, and the share price fell by almost half in the days following.

[54] A day later the company announced it would sell its Paragard contraceptive brand to Cooper Cos for $1.1 billion, with the funds being used to pay down debt.

[56] By December, the company had announced a drastic 25 percent workforce reduction (greater than 14,000 employees) as part of a two-year cost-reduction strategy.

[74] In June 2016 Indian pharmaceutical company Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd bought 8 (ANDA) Abbreviated New Drug Applications for $350 million in cash.

[80] In February 2018, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd has completed the sale of a portfolio of products within its global women's health business across contraception, fertility, menopause and osteoporosis for $703 million in cash to CVC Capital Partners Fund VI.

[81] Teva also agreed to sell its Plan B One-Step and its brands of emergency contraception to Foundation Consumer Healthcare for $675 million in cash.

[98] On 28 January 2020, the company announced that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had approved an autoinjector device for Ajovy (fremanezumab-vfrm) injection.

While the company committed to stopping new investments, its focus on ensuring an uninterrupted supply of medicines has raised ethical concerns, with critics arguing that Teva’s presence weakens the impact of sanctions aimed at pressuring Russia economically.

The complaint alleged price collusion schemes between six pharmaceutical firms including informal gatherings, telephone calls, and text messages.

[110] In May 2019, Teva Pharmaceuticals USA agreed to pay $85 million to the U.S. state of Oklahoma to settle allegations that it had been overprescribing opioids, marketing them as safe, and downplaying their addictive qualities.

[112] In January 2020, Teva Pharmaceuticals agreed to pay $54 million to settle allegations under the False Claims Act that it violated the Anti-Kickback Statute by funding improper speaking programs to boost prescriptions.

[115] In August 2023, Teva admitted to price-fixing charges related to the generic cholesterol drug Pravastatin, and agreed to pay a $225 million fine, after a criminal investigation by the US Department of Justice.

On October 31, 2024, the European Commission fined Teva €462.6 million «over misuse of the patent system and disparagement to delay [a] rival multiple sclerosis medicine», namely Copaxone (glatiramer acetate).

In 2018-2019, Teva Pharmaceuticals USA recalled antihypertensive tablets containing valsartan and losartan due to the detection beyond acceptable limit of N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA) and N-Nitroso-N-methyl-4-aminobutyric acid (NMBA), respectively, which are probable human carcinogens.