PRAGUE, October 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

Results from a new study at the 11^th Congress of the European Society of Gynecology this week demonstrate that the majority of women in Europe prefer to have less frequent periods. The study recruited 2,883 women aged 18-45 years old from Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Poland and Spain.^[1] Results demonstrated that the majority (57%) of those surveyed would prefer to have periods less than once a month. About 1 out of 5^[1] women would prefer to have four periods a year and over a quarter would opt for no periods at all.^[1]

According to Dr Christian Fiala, Gynecologist and Medical Director, Gynmed Clinic, Vienna, "For many women, monthly bleeding is painful and inconvenient, affecting all aspects of life. This new survey confirms earlier research that most women prefer to have fewer and shorter periods, despite the fact that monthly periods are considered natural. There is no medical reason for those women on the oral contraceptive pill to have monthly periods."

The Inconvenience due to women'S monthlY bleeding (ISY) study,^[1] which explored women's attitudes towards frequency of menstrual bleeding across Europe, was conducted by an independent research company and was supported by Teva Pharmaceuticals Europe.

Women's attitudes may be affected by variables such as age and nationality. Women between the ages of 36 and 45 years express a greater preference for no periods at all compared with women less than 36 years old.^[1] There were country differences between the groups, and, overall, there was a greater preference for no menstruation in Austria, Belgium and France than in Italy, Spain and Poland.^[1]

Of the 2,883 women surveyed, 1,319 women were on a combined hormonal contraceptive (mostly an oral contraceptive pill, 'the pill') and 1,564 were on a non-hormonal contraceptive or no contraceptive at all.^[1] The ISY survey also explored women's reasons for taking oral contraceptives in addition to preventing pregnancy. A considerable proportion of women surveyed also take the "pill" to alleviate period-related symptoms:^[1] 42% of women cited menstrual irregularities, over one-third (34%) cited pelvic pain, 32% pre-menstrual syndrome and 25% heavy bleeding.^[1]

Many women on the pill experience the same kind of symptoms during their monthly cycle as women that are not on the pill. These symptoms increase in frequency during the hormone-free week when the pill-induced bleed occurs. Social life, sex life, work and sporting activities were also key factors influencing preferences regarding bleeding frequency in both groups of women surveyed as part of the ISY study.^[1]

Christophe Pelletier, Vice President Women's Health Europe, Teva Pharmaceuticals Europe, commented, "Teva is committed to supporting research to better understand the needs of women of child-bearing age relating to contraception, period management and fertility. The ISY study provides healthcare professionals with important insights into women's preferences and we will continue to support further research of this kind."

NOTES TO EDITORS 

About the ISY Study 

The ISY study was conducted by Stethos International in February 2015 among 2,883 women between the ages of 18-45 years from Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Poland and Spain, and was supported by Teva. Of the 2,883 women surveyed, 1,319 were on a combined hormonal contraceptive [oral (87% of women in the group), ring (9%) or patch (5%)] and 1,564 were on a non-hormonal contraceptive or no contraceptives.

About Teva  

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE and TASE: TEVA) is a leading global pharmaceutical company that delivers high-quality, patient-centric healthcare solutions to millions of patients every day. Headquartered in Israel, Teva is the world's largest generic medicines producer, leveraging its portfolio of more than 1,000 molecules to produce a wide range of generic products in nearly every therapeutic area. In specialty medicines, Teva has a world-leading position in innovative treatments for disorders of the central nervous system, including pain, as well as a strong portfolio of respiratory products. Teva integrates its generics and specialty capabilities in its global research and development division to create new ways of addressing unmet patient needs by combining drug development capabilities with devices, services and technologies. Teva's net revenues in 2014 amounted to $20.3 billion. For more information, visit http://www.tevapharm.com.

About Teva Europe in Women's Health 

Teva is committed to becoming a long-term contributor to women's health, with a portfolio focused on all stages of women's lives from contraception and fertility, to menopause and osteoporosis, providing women in Europe with a range of options to support their needs.

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This release contains forward-looking statements, which are based on management's current beliefs and expectations and involve a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause our future results, performance or achievements to differ significantly from the results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include risks relating to: our ability to develop and commercialize additional pharmaceutical products; competition for our innovative products, especially Copaxone^® (including competition from orally-administered alternatives, as well as from potential purported generic equivalents) and our ability to migrate users to our 40 mg/mL version; the possibility of material fines, penalties and other sanctions and other adverse consequences arising out of our ongoing FCPA investigations and related matters; our ability to achieve expected results from the research and development efforts invested in our pipeline of specialty and other products; our ability to reduce operating expenses to the extent and during the timeframe intended by our cost reduction program; our ability to identify and successfully bid for suitable acquisition targets or licensing opportunities, or to consummate and integrate acquisitions; the extent to which any manufacturing or quality control problems damage our reputation for quality production and require costly remediation; increased government scrutiny in both the U.S. and Europe of our patent settlement agreements; our exposure to currency fluctuations and restrictions as well as credit risks; the effectiveness of our patents, confidentiality agreements and other measures to protect the intellectual property rights of our specialty medicines; the effects of reforms in healthcare regulation and pharmaceutical pricing, reimbursement and coverage; governmental investigations into sales and marketing practices, particularly for our specialty pharmaceutical products; adverse effects of political or economic instability, major hostilities or acts of terrorism on our significant worldwide operations; interruptions in our supply chain or problems with internal or third-party information technology systems that adversely affect our complex manufacturing processes; significant disruptions of our information technology systems or breaches of our data security; competition for our generic products, both from other pharmaceutical companies and as a result of increased governmental pricing pressures; competition for our specialty pharmaceutical businesses from companies with greater resources and capabilities; the impact of continuing consolidation of our distributors and customers; decreased opportunities to obtain U.S. market exclusivity for significant new generic products; potential liability in the U.S., Europe and other markets for sales of generic products prior to a final resolution of outstanding patent litigation; our potential exposure to product liability claims that are not covered by insurance; any failure to recruit or retain key personnel, or to attract additional executive and managerial talent; any failures to comply with complex Medicare and Medicaid reporting and payment obligations; significant impairment charges relating to intangible assets, goodwill and property, plant and equipment; the effects of increased leverage and our resulting reliance on access to the capital markets; potentially significant increases in tax liabilities; the effect on our overall effective tax rate of the termination or expiration of governmental programs or tax benefits, or of a change in our business; variations in patent laws that may adversely affect our ability to manufacture our products in the most efficient manner; environmental risks; and other factors that are discussed in our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2014 and in our other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and we assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.  

REFERENCES 

1. Nappi R, Chabbert-Buffet N, Fiala C, et al. Women's attitudes toward the frequency of bleeding: Results from the ISY (Inconvenience due to women'S monthlY bleeding) Study. Poster presented at the 11th Congress of the European Society of Gynecology, Prague, 21-24 October 2015. 

SOURCE Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd