Roche growth stalls after Avastin setback
pharmafile | April 14, 2011 | News story | Research and Development, Sales and Marketing | Roche
Revenues at Roche flattened out in the first three months of 2011, as Avastin sales declined in the US and Europe.
Group sales were static or falling in local currencies (-9% in Swiss francs; +2% in US dollars) at 11.1 billion Swiss francs in first three months of 2011. The figures were particularly suppressed by anti-viral Tamiflu, which last year performed well in response to global flu epidemics, which have not struck as severely this year. Excluding Tamiflu, group sales rose 2% (-7% in Swiss francs, +4% in US dollars).
Exchange rates also hit revenues to the tune of 1.1 billion Swiss francs or 9%, due mainly to significant weakening of US dollar and euro against the Swiss franc.
Most worryingly, sales of Avastin declined 14% in the US and 8% in Europe. The main factor behind this was the FDA’s decision to withdraw the drug’s licence for use in breast cancer, a ruling Roche hope to challenge and overturn. In Europe a similar decision has seen its use restricted to combination with only one chemotherapy regimen.
Roche confirms full-year targets for the group and pharma division (excluding Tamiflu) are expected to grow at low single-digit rates, with pharma growth in line with the market, Diagnostics are forecast to grow significantly above market, and Core EPS is projected to grow at a high single-digit rate at constant exchange rates.
Excluding Tamiflu, divisional sales rose 1% (8% in Swiss francs, +3% in US dollars), keeping the Swiss firm on track to achieve its full-year targets. Including Tamiflu, with expected negative impact, sales declined 2% (-10% in Swiss francs, +1% in US dollars).
The company nevertheless saw growth in many of its leading products – Lucentis, MabThera/Rituxan, Herceptin, Actemra/RoActemra, Activase/TNKase, Tarceva and Xeloda.
Roche says Avastin sales in other indications continue to grow, driven by international markets and Japan. Also encouraging was the positive phase III OCEANS study in ovarian cancer, which is expected to result in licensed use in this cancer.
The company pointed out that it had enjoyed positive results in five other key clinical trials in the first quarter that are expected to support marketing applications for new medicines, or additional indications for existing products.
- vemurafenib (metastatic melanoma)
- vismodegib (basal cell carcinoma)
- Tarceva (EGFR-positive non-small cell lung cancer)
- Lucentis (diabetic macular edema – two studies)
- Trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1; HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer)
Meanwhile, an exploratory phase II study showed the superiority of trastuzumab emtansine (T–DM1) monotherapy over Herceptin plus chemotherapy, in first line treatment of HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer. The company’s diagnostics division posted growth ahead of the market, a 6% increase (-4% in Swiss francs, +7% in US dollars), led by professional diagnostics and tissue diagnostics.
Roche’s chief executive Severin Schwan said: “Based on our first-quarter sales, we are on track to achieve our targets for the full-year. And since the beginning of the year we have already announced positive results from seven key phase II or III clinical trials, further underscoring our growth prospects for the coming years.”
Andrew McConaghie
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