Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, the world's biggest generic drugmaker, said strong sales of its Copaxone drug and new generic products gave it a forecast-beating increase in adjusted net profit in the first quarter.

The results come just over a month after Teva won a battle to buy generic drugmaker Ratiopharm for an enterprise value of €3.6 billion to improve its presence in Germany, the world's second-largest generics market. The deal is expected to close toward the end of the year.

Natali Gotlieb, an analyst at the IBI Investment House, said growth in Europe in the first quarter was weaker than in previous quarters.

"The impact of the economic crisis can be seen, especially in sales in England," she said. "But we believe there could be potential for the future as an economic crisis generally leads to reforms that bring about greater use of generic drugs."

In the first quarter, Teva's diluted earnings per share (EPS) excluding one-off items increased to 91 cents from 71 cents a year earlier as sales at Israel's biggest company grew 16% to $3.7 billion. Analysts forecast EPS of 89 cents excluding items on sales of $3.7 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.