Roche
third-quarter sales rise 3 percent, confirms outlook
Send a link to a friend
[October 20, 2016]
ZURICH (Reuters) - Roche on Thursday
confirmed its full-year 2016 outlook on the strength of robust sales of
cancer drugs including Tecentriq, the new immunotherapy that the Swiss
company is banking on to counter patent expirations of its older
medicines.
|
Third-quarter sales at the world's biggest maker of cancer drugs
rose to 12.48 billion Swiss francs ($12.61 billion) from 11.9
billion francs in the same period in 2015, it said.
Analysts polled by Reuters had on average expected sales of 12.68
billion francs.
Roche said all of its recently launched medicines had performed
well, with Tecentriq bringing in 77 million francs since its
approval in May for bladder cancer. That revenue is now due to
accelerate after U.S. regulators this week gave the drug a green
light to be used against lung cancer.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Oct/20/images/ads/current/farmers_bank_sda_prom_050614.png)
"Tecentriq has been performing strongly since May," Chief Executive
Severin Schwan said in the statement. "Based on our performance so
far, I am confident that we will meet our full-year targets for
2016."
Schwan, who aims for Tecentriq to muscle in on territory now
dominated by immunotherapy drugs from Bristol-Myers Squibb and Merck
& Co, expects Roche's 2016 sales to grow by a low- to mid-single
digit percentage rate at constant exchange rates, with core earnings
growing faster than sales.
The company plans to boost its dividend in Swiss francs.
[to top of second column] |
![](../images/ads/current/Symphony_122313.png)
Nine-month sales rose 4 percent at constant exchange rates to 37.5
billion francs, shy of the average analyst estimate of 37.7 billion
francs in a Reuters poll.
(Reporting by John Miller; Editing by Michael Shields)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Oct/20/images/ads/current/rohlfs_lda_051513.png) |