UPDATE 1-Teva N. America CEO resigns, moves to Cardinal

(Adds details, analyst comment, stock prices)

TEL AVIV, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Israel's Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (TEVA.O) (TEVA.TA) said on Thursday that George Barrett, chief executive of Teva North America, has resigned and will be replaced by William Marth.

Marth is currently president and CEO of Teva USA and will assume the additional role of CEO of Teva North America, effective immediately.

Barrett, who is leaving to become vice chairman of Dublin, Ohio-based Cardinal Health (CAH.N) and CEO of its health-care supply chain services sector, will remain with Teva until the end of January to assist in the transition, the world's largest generic drugmaker said in a statement.

Barrett has served as corporate executive vice president of Teva's Global Pharmaceutical Markets since January 2007 and as CEO of Teva North America since January 2005. He was president and CEO of Teva USA from 1999 to 2004. Barrett will report directly to Cardinal CEO R. Kerry Clark in his new position.

Marth, 53, has run the U.S. generics business where he has handled much of the commercial activities since 2002 and has been president and CEO of Teva USA since 2005.

He has overseen a number of significant product launches, notably the December launch of generic Protonix, and two of the largest launches in the history of U.S. generics -- Simvastatin and Pravastatin in 2006.

"With Bill's deep industry experience, training and institutional knowledge of Teva, I am confident that he will continue to lead us to growth in this critical region," Teva's President and CEO Shlomo Yanai said.

In a research note, Wachovia analyst Michael Tong said disruption caused by Barrett's departure should be minimal, citing Teva's "deep bench of management talent."

But, he added, there is "little margin for error ... Although we have confidence in TEVA's management, we cannot ignore the loss of experience. With the shares at 18.3 times our 2008 earnings-per-share estimate of $2.72, there is little margin for error in management transition and continued execution of the core business.

"Given these uncertainties, multiple expansion is unlikely to occur, in our view," wrote Tong, who maintains his "market perform" rating.

In Tel Aviv, Teva shares were down 4.5 percent, and they fell $1.99, or 4 percent, to $47.70 in early Nasdaq trading.

Cardinal shares were up 55 cents at $59.12 in early New York Stock Exchange trading.

(Reporting by Tova Cohen in Tel Aviv and Debra Sherman in Chicago; Editing by David Holmes and Maureen Bavdek)

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