While one of South Florida's largest companies vanished as an independent entity Thursday with stark finality, the implications of the change may take months, perhaps years, to become clear.

Experts say the purchase of IVAX, the Miami drug company, by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries of Israel will likely mean that at least some of IVAX's 10,000 employees worldwide, including 900 in Miami, will lose their jobs, and the community will lose yet another major corporate supporter of its activities and charities.

The region's quest to become a major player in the biotech-pharmaceutical world certainly did not improve, although the acquisition may not have hurt it severely and some experts believe it may end up spawning a new creativity.

Still, Allen acknowledged the important role that IVAX's former chief executive, Phillip Frost, has had and will continue to have in the community. ''He's given a hell of a lot here,'' said Allen, including major donations to the University of Miami and Florida International University.

Frost, who has become vice chairman of Teva, said Thursday he plans to continue being active in cultural and philanthropic affairs here. ''Absolutely,'' he said.

Under terms of the deal, IVAX shareholders who wanted to convert to Teva stock were able to convert 50.61 percent of their shares to Teva. The remaining shares would be exchanged for $26 in cash.

Frost's 40.28 million shares will convert to 17.26 million shares of Teva stock worth $599 million. He will also receive $517 million in cash, for a total value of $1.1 billion.

The new combined company, operating under the Teva name, will have 26,000 employees in more than 60 countries, selling primarily generic drugs, but also some branded pharmaceuticals. Total annual revenue is about $7 billion.

Still unclear is how the IVAX change will affect the aspirations of South Florida economic development leaders, who have had a long-held ambition to transform this area into a major center for biotech-pharmaceuticalsmedical devices.

Scripps, which was supposed to be a huge boost for this push, has spent two years trying to find a permanent home in South Florida for its research development center. Even with $500 million in state and local funds behind it, the research group is still looking.

Over the years, some major medical companies have been swallowed up by larger entities, such as Cordis, the Miami Lakes device maker that became part of Johnson & Johnson. Others, like Kos Pharmaceuticals and SFBC International, have moved their headquarters in the past year.

Frost believes the key to expanding the healthcare field here is not a company like IVAX, but the intellectual force in universities and research centers. ''I think at the moment we haven't achieved that critical mass in the universities and other institutions,'' but the push is on to get that mass.

Norman Weldon, one-time president of Cordis and then creator of another large South Florida device manufacturer, Corvita, said that by their nature pharmaceutical and medical device companies are ``footloose. They do not necessarily need to be near raw materials or their customers. Their business can be almost anywhere. Their chief resource, of course, is intellect.

''I think Dade is still one of the top 20 in the country as far as the production of medical devices and pharmaceuticals. The really interesting question about what happens to a major operation like IVAX is what happens to the people,'' Weldon said.

Weldon pointed out that after Cordis was sold, he founded Corvita, which he later sold to Pfizer. Other Cordis alumni also started their own companies. Frost and Michael Jaharis developed Key Pharmaceuticals in the 1980s. After they sold it to Schering-Plough, Frost started IVAX and Jaharis started Kos.

In Broward, where Andrx is now the state's independent largest publicly traded pharmaceutical firm, the company's two co-founders are once again engaged in pharmaceutical start-ups: Elliot Hahn with Solapharm and Alan Cohen with Abrika.

Meanwhile, in Doral, Carlos and Jorge de Céspedes, two pharmaceutical sales reps who founded Pharmed, have started their own drug-making company, which is now producing vitamins and supplements but plans to expand to manufacturing generics for Latin America, with a capability of producing 15 billion tablets a month.

Weldon said IVAX's acquisition could cause some of its top talent to branch out on their own. ``There is almost always a splintering effect, but the people who are displaced seldom go away. They get repotted and multiply.

Allen, the banker, recalls that years ago he loaned Frost, a dermatologist, and Jaharis $500,000 to take over Key Pharmaceuticals and meet its payroll.

For South Florida, Allen said, the problem is that major corporations have an important role in driving a community's ambitions and giving. Eastern Airlines, Pan Am, Southeast Bank and other major employers have vanished. Others, like Knight Ridder -- parent of The Miami Herald -- retain a presence here, but their corporate headquarters are elsewhere.

''A lot of things have happened in this community that have negatively impacted the city's capacity to raise money. Contributions have been affected dramatically here. American Bankers Insurance -- they were huge, with dedicated resources,'' Allen said.

He recalled the days of Alvah Chapman, chief executive of Knight Ridder, and Harry Hood Bassett, head of First National Bank of Miami, who could get major corporations to get involved.

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