Roche boosted by Tamiflu and cancer drug sales

Roche has announced that its sales have increased by 19 per cent – three times the global rate. It cited strong sales of its new cancer drugs and a 37 per cent increase in sales for Tamiflu, the anti-influenza drug used by governments stockpiling for the potential arrival of a human variant of avian flu.

The Swiss company’s top-selling drug, the non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma drug MabThera/Rituxan, rose by 16 per cent. Sales in Herceptin, the treatment for advanced breast cancer that some countries are fast-tracking on the basis of strong clinical data, have doubled compared the same period last year. Avastin sales have likewise grown it has been filed in the US, Europe and Japan for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Roche said that sales in Tarveca accounted for 30 per cent of its total sales after a year since its launch and sales have almost doubled for the NSCLC and pancreatic cancer drug.

Roche chief executive and chairman, Franz B. Humer, said: “Roche commenced the year with an outstanding quarter and all growth drivers continued last year’s strong performance.”

“The molecular diagnostics business and immunochemistry portfolio continued to be the main growth drivers for our Diagnostics Division. We expect sales in this division to accelerate over the next several quarters,” he added.

The company said it had “an impressive” 45 products in phase III trials and added that it expects its full year results to be up “significantly” on 2005.

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