Today in interviews, Roche's CEO Severin Schwan said that he had no plans to mix the Roche and Genentech R&D groups together. "You would kill innovation" he said.
Analysts have expressed some level of concern that maintaining the two separate groups might inhibit Roche's ability to hit its $2-3 B savings goal just announced on September 3rd. The savings are needed in the short term to compensate for some recent set backs Roche has had with taspoglutide, rejection of early registration for T-DM1 and loss of a breast cancer treatment indication for Avastin.
Schwan insists the Roche pipeline is among healthiest in the industry and that new drugs coming through it will more than compensate for any short term set backs that Roche may see. While R&D may remain uncombined, it may have more limited budgets to work with going forward. Announcements on where cuts will occur are expected in October. The primary care sales force appears to be in harm's way.
Posted by Bruce Lehr September 15th 2010.
Comments