Swiss drugmaker Roche (ROG.S), opens new tab reported better than expected first-half operating profit on Thursday, driven by strong sales of breast cancer and asthma treatments.<\/p>\n
Operating profit was up 6% at 12 billion Swiss francs ($15.15 billion), above analyst forecasts for around 11.7 billion, driven by higher sales and cost management, it said.<\/p>\n
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\nRoche added that the appreciation of the franc against the U.S. dollar had an adverse impact. In currency-adjusted terms, profit was up 11%.<\/p>\n
Revenues of breast cancer drug Phesgo, a more convenient alternative to Roche’s established Perjeta, jumped 55% to 1.2 billion francs, while asthma and food allergies medicine Xolair grew 34% to 1.45 billion francs – both above forecast.
\nRoche’s much-watched Vabysmo, to counter a common form of blindness in the elderly, came in slightly below expectations at 2.07 billion francs.<\/p>\n
However, it was still among the company’s top five growth drivers alongside Phesgo, Xolair, once-monthly haemophilia shot Hemlibra and MS drug Ocrevus.<\/p>\n
“We are confident in our continued strong momentum and resilience of our business due to our innovative on-market portfolio and pipeline,” said CEO Thomas Schinecker.<\/p>\n
He said Roche was still targeting a high single-digit percentage increase in full-year adjusted earnings per share.
\nDiagnostics division sales were stable at 7 billion francs, the company said, as growing demand for pathology solutions and blood screening tests offset the effect of China’s healthcare pricing reforms.<\/p>\n
In the United States, sales rose 10% due to Xolair and continuing uptake of its other top four drugs, which more than compensated for a decline in drugs with expired patents.<\/p>\n
Schinecker told a media call that the company was in close talks with the U.S. government on tariffs and had ramped up inventories.<\/p>\n
“In case tariffs will come, we would not be initially impacted,” said Schinecker.
\nHe said the company had also discussed a direct-to-patient model for selling medicines to U.S. patients, which would help bring down costs quickly by cutting out middlemen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Swiss drugmaker Roche (ROG.S), opens new tab reported better than expected first-half operating profit on Thursday, driven by strong sales of breast cancer and asthma treatments. Operating profit was up 6% at 12 billion Swiss francs ($15.15 billion), above analyst forecasts for around 11.7 billion, driven by higher sales and cost management, it said. Keep […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1119,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[194,193,195],"class_list":{"0":"post-1118","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sitefansalaran-industry-news","8":"tag-allergy-drugs","9":"tag-roche-profit-beats-forecast-on-strong-sales-of-cancer","10":"tag-swiss-drugmaker-roche-rog-s"},"yoast_head":"\n