Roche expresses satisfaction with second quarter results

Roche has hailed the strength of its financial performance in the second quarter of 2010 after posting year-on-year growth in profits, earnings and sales.

The company’s sales increased by five per cent on a local currency basis to 24.6 billion Swiss francs (15.5 billion pounds), while operating profits grew at a faster rate, up by 11 per cent compared to Q2 2009.

Both the pharmaceuticals and diagnostics divisions of Roche benefited from this improved performance, with drugs such as Lucentis and RoActemra highlighted as major drivers in its success.

In addition, the company highlighted the clinical progress of newer cancer treatments such as Avastin and T-DM1 as further evidence of positive second quarter progress.

Severin Schwan, chief executive officer of Roche, said: “Roche achieved a strong operating performance in the first half of 2010 despite an increasingly challenging market environment – net income for the period was up significantly.”

Earlier this month, Roche published data from a new clinical study called Athena, which illustrated the benefits that HPV testing can offer when screening for cervical cancer.