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Roche Bullish Despite Biosimilars Battering

Pharma Sales Down By 7% in Q4

 
• By Kevin Grogan

Its older oncology products are sinking but the Swiss major is confident about coming through COVID-19 in a strong position.

Roche_Logo_Glass
Tough Q4 for the Swiss major • Source: Archive

Roche Holding AG's pharma revenues suffered a tough fourth quarter 2020 as its trio of big-selling cancer drugs – Avastin, MabThera/Rituxan and Herceptin – were again hit by biosimilars and the impact of COVID-19 was keenly felt on its doctor-administered drugs.

Pharmaceutical turnover came in at CHF10.22bn ($11.30bn), a fall of 7%, while the pandemic helped push up diagnostics revenues by 28% to CHF4.12bn. Pharma chief Bill Anderson said that COVID-19 had a negative impact of about CHF2.5bn last year on products across the portfolio, but that effect was softened by CHF500m increase in sales associated with the use of its rheumatoid arthritis drug Actemra (tocilizumab) for treating hospitalized patients with COVID

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