Roche delivers strong performance in the first half of 2015

 

Commenting on the Group’s results, Roche CEO Severin Schwan said: “We had continued strong sales growth in both Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics in the first half. I am very encouraged by the strong uptake of our new medicine Esbriet, for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, following our acquisition of InterMune last year. We have made significant progress in cancer immunotherapy and now have over forty programmes in clinical development. I am also pleased with the very positive results of the phase III studies for ocrelizumab in multiple sclerosis. Based on the strong first half, I am confident we will reach our full-year targets for 2015.”

Strong performance across both divisions

Sales increased 6% in the first half, with significant growth of sales of oncology and immunology medicines. There was also strong growth in the Diagnostics Division, driven particularly by immunodiagnostic and molecular diagnostics products.

In the Pharmaceuticals Division, 5% sales growth was driven by medicines to treat HER2-positive breast cancer (Herceptin, Perjeta, Kadcyla, combined +21%) and Avastin (+9%), which saw very strong growth in use for cervical and ovarian cancers. Avastin is now used to treat seven different types of cancer. MabThera/Rituxan (+6%) for blood cancers and rheumatoid arthritis continued to grow solidly. Actemra/RoActemra (+25%), which is used mainly to treat rheumatoid arthritis, also remained a significant growth contributor in the first six months. Xolair (+28%), which is now used in the treatment of chronic hives as well as asthma, continued to grow strongly. Uptake of Esbriet was very strong in the first six months (229 million Swiss francs). Sales of oral chemotherapy drug Xeloda and anti-viral medicine Valcyte declined as these medicines are no longer patent protected. Sales of hepatitis medicine Pegasys and eye medicine Lucentis were lower as a result of increased competition. 

In the Diagnostics Division, sales increased 7%, driven primarily by immunodiagnostic products from the Professional Diagnostics business area (+7%). The Molecular and Tissue Diagnostics business areas also performed well, each up 12%, and sales in Diabetes Care increased 1%, despite ongoing challenging market conditions.

The Swiss franc strengthened considerably against the euro during the first half of 2015, after the Swiss National Bank lifted its exchange rate peg in January, whilst weakening against the US dollar. The Japanese yen continued to further weaken against the Swiss franc, as did most European and Latin American currencies. Overall, there was a significant negative currency impact of 3 percentage points on sales.

 

Core earnings per share growth ahead of sales2

Core  operating profit increased 7% in the first half, excluding a one-time income from the sale of filgrastim rights in 2014. On the same basis, core earnings per share (7.22 Swiss francs) were 7% higher. 

IFRS net income was 7% lower in Swiss francs at 5.2 billion Swiss francs as a result of the significant negative currency impact, the base effect from the one-time income from the sale of filgrastim rights and the impact from the recent acquisitions, in particular InterMune. In constant exchange rates net income was stable.