Teva Pharmaceuticals is ascending rapidly. According to a recent report from Evaluate Pharma, a London-based research firm, the Israeli drugmaker is set to break into the top ten list of the world’s top-grossing pharmaceutical companies this year, and will maintain stronger growth than any other firms in the exclusive pharma club. But the man who took the company there and oversaw a doubling in Teva’s revenues over the past five years will not be the one guiding that expansion. On Sunday, Teva announced that chief executive Shlomo Yanai is leaving the company in May and will be succeeded by Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) executive Jeremy Levin.

Teva’s choice to appoint Levin is seen as a sign that the world’s largest generic drug manufacturer is looking to further broaden its market influence. In his five years at the helm, Yanai helped Teva expand its pipeline and diversify its assets, including the acquisition of Pennsylvania’s Cephalon earlier this year.

“The proprietary side of our business will change from a solo act…to a symphony in which we will be marketing a number of our own drugs,” Yanai told Nature Medicine in a Q&A last year.

Levin was, until Sunday, a senior executive at BMS, where he was responsible for acquiring promising biotechs as part of the New York-based company’s ‘string of pearls’ strategy to maintain a lucrative product pipeline.  He is widely expected to continue in this direction in his new position. “His appointment clearly signals that Teva will remain acquisitive in building its brand business,” Barclays Capital wrote in an investor note quoted by Globes.

Yanai’s departure notice comes just ten days after Teva announced that Rob Koremans, a Sanofi executive in charge of generic drug development, will head up Teva’s European operation, beginning in March.

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