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Roche Q3 sales grow 14 percent

Swiss pharmaceuticals maker Roche Holding AG said yesterday its third-quarter sales rose 14 percent to 12.4 billion Swiss francs (US$12.24 billion) from SF11.3 billion the previous year, driven by strong growth in cancer and flu drugs.

The results, which beat most analyst predictions, prompted the Swiss drugmaker to raise its full-year outlook.

Roche said it now expects at least high single-digit sales growth for its pharmaceuticals division this year while its diagnostics division, too, is “expected to grow well ahead of market” this year.

Roche chief executive Severin Schwan said the integration US biotech firm Genentech was progressing well.

GENENTECH PURCHASE

Roche completed its US$46.8 billion takeover of Genentech in March after a protracted battle to win over Genentech shareholders, many of whom had expressed concern about a clash of corporate cultures between the Swiss and California-based companies.

Sales of Roche says sales of cancer drug Avastin — to treat advanced colorectal, breast, lung and kidney cancer, as well as relapsed glioblastoma, a type of brain tumor — grew 21 percent and reached SF1.59 billion.

Two other cancer drugs, Rituxan — known as MabThera in Europe — and Herceptin, also broke through the SF1 billion sales barrier, grossing SF1.51 billion and SF1.33 billion respectively.

Tamiflu sales increased more than eight-fold to SF994 million, and full-year sales are expected to reach SF2.7 billion, Roche said.

Demand for the drug shot up earlier this year when the WHO declared a swine flu pandemic and said Tamiflu was one of two anti-viral medicines effective against the H1N1 strain.

The other is Relenza, produced by GlaxoSmithKline.

PFIZER

Separately, Pfizer said on Wednesday it was ready to close its deal to buy pharmaceutical rival Wyeth, boosting the size of the world’s biggest drugmaker, after getting US and Canadian regulatory approval.

Pfizer, the maker of Viagra for erectile dysfunction and Lipitor for cholesterol, said it expected to close the transaction yesterday after getting approval from the US Federal Trade Commission and Canadian authorities.

“With the receipt of these clearances, Pfizer has now satisfied the regulatory approval requirements under the merger agreement to complete the acquisition of Wyeth,” the company said.

Regulators had required Pfizer to sell certain animal health assets in the US and Canada to Boehringer Ingelheim, as previously announced.

Pfizer, already the world’s biggest pharmaceutical firm, announced the planned merger in January, seeking diversification as it prepares for the expiration of patents on its blockbuster drugs.

The EU’s executive branch — which enforces EU competition law — approved the deal earlier this year, also contingent on Pfizer’s commitment to divest some of its operations in animal health vaccines, pharmaceuticals and medicinal feed additives in Europe.
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