Teva Pharmaceuticals’ new CEO is Jeremy Levin (Morning Read)

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Meet Teva’s Jeremy Levin. The former Bristol-Meyers Squibb and Novartis executive will take over the company in May 2012 when Shlomo Yanai retires. The switch means the company will go from an ex-general with no pharma experience to someone better able to integrate the $6.5 billion Cephalon deal and a plummeting stock.

“Investors will like the idea that Shlomo’s replacement is from the industry and someone with knowledge and experience, especially from the innovative side of the business,” Natali Gotlieb, an analyst for Israel Brokerage & Investments Ltd., told Bloomberg.

Brace for culture shock. Clal Finance equity analyst Jonathan Kreizman stated: “We believe that the appointment of a manager from the pharma field, despite the fact that he is not an Israeli, is the correct course to take. Teva will face numerous challenges in the upcoming years. Following the acquisition of Cephalon, its success in innovative drugs will be a decisive factor in its future.”

The best in 2011 years in review. Everyone loves to look back. Some of my favorite “looks back” in healthcare included Medscape’s Worst Physicians of the Year; Washington Post’s year in innovation (which included the idea of hacking DNA); Burrill Report’s nice summary of life science fundraising; the WSJ’s Health Blog’s best posts of 2011 (which reminded me of the CDC zombie alerts); Forbes’ best drug company of 2011; Everything Health’s favorite books of the year; Cardiobrief’s year in review; and The Scientist’s best science mutlimedia of 2011 (example at right).

The best in 2012 predictions. This list won’t be as long, but includes the idea that President Obama will be 2012′s truest conservative; Time’s eight health stories to watch in 2012; Tableau Software’s 10 business intelligence trends to watch; and VentureBeat’s 2012 trends about cloud computing.

What will happen in 2012 healthcare reform. Aside from that pesky healthcare reform Supreme Court case, the big changes in 2012 healthcare reform will include:

• Lowering rebates to Medicare Advantage plans and providing bonus payments to high-quality plans.
• Allowing providers to form accountable care organizations, intended to let them better coordinate care of Medicare beneficiaries. In October, the Obama administration loosened the rules for the program after providers complained about the early version.
• Lowering reimbursement for preventable hospital readmissions. Hospitals have been gearing up for the change, as the WSJ’s Informed Patient column reported earlier this year.

(Hat tip Kaiser Family Foundation)

Speaking of healthcare reform… those with ethics issues are completely ethical enough to decide if they need to ethically not consider the Supreme Court case.

Is the ADD drug shortage… a drug shortage or a natural transition to stop abuse of the drugs?