Roche had a tough 2010. It reported its pharma sales were down 2% to CHF 37.05 billion. The drop was led by Tamiflu which saw its sales plummet by 71% with the end of the flu pandemic.
Roche weathers tough year and looks to pipeline for 2011 | InPharm.
Otherwise, the bright spot for Roche were its oncology sales. This division's sales were up 7% and account for more than 50% of the total pharma revenues. Despite sales decreases overall profits did increase by 4% year over year -- albeit took an 5% cut in R&D to help achieve that mark.
In looking at 2011, Roche advised that its blockbuster Avastin could see sales drop from CHF 9 billion to CHF 6-7 billion due to various regulatory rulings that will limit or stop its use in certain indications. Roche is looking for other parts of its pipeline oncology portfolio to rise to the top in 2011. It expects to seek approval for 3 key oncology drugs, namely RG7204 for melanoma, pertuzumab in combination with Herceptin of HER2+ breast cancer, and GDC-0449 for basal cell carcinoma. The three drugs are expect to boost sales to offset losses or slow downs in other areas.
Posted by Bruce Lehr Feb 3rd 2011.
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