Roche reveals pharmaceutical data fears

Roche's chief financial officer Erich Hunziker has expressed concern over the volume of data circulating in the pharmaceutical industry.

Speaking at the FT Global Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Conference yesterday (December 1st), Mr Hunziker suggested his company is finding it increasingly difficult to manage the amount of information it produces.

He told delegates at the event in London that the data volume within Roche is now doubling every 15 months, Reuters reports.

"I don't think we are increasing our know-how every 15 months, far from it," Mr Hunziker said. "I'm scared that a lot of this data is just spam. We don't know how to filter it."

The chief financial officer, who is also head of information technology at the Basel-based company, added that the pharmaceutical industry has seen two distinct models emerge in recent years.

He said companies like GlaxoSmithKline have embraced diversification while others, such as Roche, remain dedicated to pure pharmaceuticals.

Other speakers at the two-day conference include Novartis chief executive Joseph Jimenez and Dr John C Martin, chairman and chief executive of Gilead.