The Unlikely Source of a Healthtech Revolution

For decades, Israelis in the prescription drug industry pretty much faced a binary choice: work for Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. or emigrate. So when Teva last year said it planned to cut its domestic workforce by a third as it struggled to pay its debts, those who faced layoffs fretted that their careers were at a dead end.

Instead, Teva’s downsizing has given new vigor to Israel’s life sciences industry. Veterans of the company have launched or joined startups that seek novel ways to discover drugs, develop software to help physicians work more efficiently, or tap technology that lets patients monitor their health. “When I started looking for my next position, it seemed like the pool of relevant companies in Israel wasn’t very big,” says Micah Pearlman, a former strategist for drug launches at Teva, who quit in April and found a job the next month with an artificial intelligence company working in biologic drug development. “It turned out that my initial concerns were misplaced.”