Roche reports growth in first nine months of 2010

Roche has published its financial report for the first nine months of 2010, during which the healthcare group experienced a year-on-year growth in sales.

The company's overall sales total for the first three quarters of the fiscal year came to 36.1 billion Swiss francs (23.8 billion pounds), representing a two per cent increase in local currency terms.

Among the firm's strongest performing products were drugs such as Avastin, Herceptin, Xeloda and RoActemra, with improved sales of these therapies offsetting the expected decline in demand for the influenza treatment Tamiflu.

The company's diagnostics division also demonstrated growth exceeding global market levels, meaning that Roche is now on course to achieve its financial targets for the full year.

Severin Schwan, chief executive officer of Roche, said: "The Roche group recorded solid nine-month sales growth in a challenging market."

Earlier this month, the company attended the European Society for Medical Oncology congress, where it presented promising clinical trial data on its lung cancer drug Tarceva.