Roche on target despite European shrinkage
pharmafile | April 12, 2012 | News story | Sales and Marketing | Illumina, Q1 2012, Roche
Roche saw its business grow in the first three months of the year, thanks to strong showings from hepatitis C treatment Pegasys and cancer medicines MabThera/Rituxan, Herceptin and Xeloda.
The good performance, twinned with two new product approvals in the quarter and five encouraging late-stage trial results has led Roche to confirms its full-year performance outlook.
The company saw total sales across its pharmaceutical and diagnostics groups rise 2% in constant exchange rates (-1% in Swiss francs; +1% in US dollars) to 11.0 billion Swiss francs. Excluding Tamiflu, sales growth was slightly higher at three percent.
The growth in total global sales was despite a significant contraction in Western European revenues, where sales fell four percent.
This was more than compensated for by the 6% growth seen in the US, which was led by Pegasys and Rituxan. Elsewhere, Japan sales increased by 1%, led by Tamiflu and Mircera. Sales in the International region were up 2%, reflecting good growth in Latin America (+9%) and Asia-Pacific (+7%).
Balanced against these were ‘uneven purchasing patterns and price pressure’ in countries of the Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Indian Subcontinent grouping (CEMAI) which recorded a 1% fall in sales.
Diagnostics sales grow 4%, with Professional Diagnostics up 9% and Tissue Diagnostics (+18%) and Molecular Diagnostics (+8%) also growth drivers. However Diabetes Care sales fell 7% in what Roche called a ‘challenging market environment’.
The firm says reimbursement changes in key European and other markets were the cause for the decline. It says it expects key diabetes care launches in 2012 to create new growth momentum.
Roche gained approval for two new, first-in-class skin cancer medicines: Zelboraf (melanoma, EU) and Erivedge (basal cell carcinoma, US). The firm has also receives priority review status for pertuzumab (HER2-positive breast cancer) in the US and filed marketing application for new subcutaneous dosage form of Herceptin in the EU.
Meanwhile, five out of five late-stage clinical studies published in the period produced positive results, including new data for trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1; HER2-positive breast cancer), Actemra/RoActemra (rheumatoid arthritis) and Avastin (colorectal cancer).
Chief executive Severin Schwan said: “With sales advancing 2% in the first three months, we remain on track to achieve our targets for the full-year. After the rapid approvals of Zelboraf and Erivedge we can now make these innovative medicines available to patients suffering from severe forms of skin cancer,” he said, adding that the firm had announced positive results from five out of five key late-stage clinical trials since the beginning of 2012.
Illumina stubbornly resisting overtures
Despite the encouraging underlying figures, Roche’s battle to acquire diagnostics firm Illumina is attracting the most attention. Roche has now increased its offer price for Illumina following discussions with the firm’s shareholders, raising its offer to $51.00 per share in cash.
This is the second time the company has raised its initial bid for the firm, and represents a valuation of the company at $6.7 billion – the offer is scheduled to expire on 20 April.
Roche is pushing hard to acquire the market leading sequencing systems and microarrays firm, which it says would complement its existing diagnostics’ offering in genomics research and diagnostics.
Severin Schwan has told analysts the offer is “more than adequate,” but confirmed Roche would be prepared to pay more if allowed to conduct due diligence of the firm’s assets.
Andrew McConaghie
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