JERUSALEM, Israel--(BUSINESS WIRE)--August 28, 2000 via NewsEdge Corporation -

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, (NASDAQ:TEVA) announced today that its Board of Directors has approved a stock option program under which an aggregate of up to 6.25 million Teva ordinary shares will be made available for stock option grants over the next 5 years to key employees of Teva on a worldwide basis.

An initial group of stock options covering a total of 800,000 shares (out of the first portion of 1.25 million shares) were granted to 240 employees in Israel by the Board of Directors in its meeting of August 21st, 2000. These options have the following terms: they expire after 5 years; The options will be subject to a vesting schedule such that 25% of the options will be exercisable at any time after 24 months from the date of issuance, another 25% at the end of 36 months and the balance of 50% will be vested on the 48 month anniversary of the date of issuance; The exercise price will be $63.56 per share. The options themselves are not tradable but the shares underlying the options will be listed on the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange.

Eli Hurvitz, President and Chief Executive Officer of Teva stated: "The purpose of the plan is to enable our employees to share in the company's success and recognize their contribution to that success. The plan is a means of incentivizing our employees by linking their future to that of the company thus recognizing them as one of the company's most important assets".

The plan is subject to the consent of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange to list the underlying shares and to the approval of the Israeli tax authorities.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., headquartered in Israel, is among the top 50 pharmaceutical companies and among the largest generic pharmaceutical companies in the world. Over 80% of its sales are outside Israel, mainly in North America and Europe. The Company develops, manufactures, and markets generic and branded human pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients.

Safe Harbor Statement: This report contains forward-looking statements, which express the beliefs and expectations of management. Such statements are based on current expectations and involve a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause the Company's 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 the impact of pharmaceutical industry regulation, the difficulty of predicting FDA and other regulatory authority approvals, the regulatory environment and changes in the health policies and structure of various countries, acceptance and demand for new pharmaceutical products and new therapies, the impact of competitive products and pricing, the availability and pricing of ingredients used in the manufacture of pharmaceutical products, uncertainties regarding market acceptance of innovative products newly launched, currently being sold or in development , the impact of restructuring of clients , reliance on strategic alliances , fluctuations in currency, exchange and interest rates, operating results , the impact of the year 2000 issue and other factors that are discussed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 20-F and the Company's other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

CONTACT: Dan Suesskind | Chief Financial Officer | Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd | 011/972-2-5892-811 | or | Bill Fletcher | President and CEO | Teva North America | 215-591-3000 | or | Dorit Meltzer | Director, Investor Relations | Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. | 011/972-3-9267-554