Roche on Wednesday reported 10% raise in sales in the first nine months of 2019, boosted by new products, while its Pharmaceuticals Division sales went up 12%, driven by high demand for recently launched medicines, mainly Ocrevus, Hemlibra, Tecentriq and Perjeta.
In the first nine months, Roche said the Group sales rose to CHF 46.1 billion, and the sales in the Pharmaceuticals Division increased 12% to CHF 36.6 billion.
Roche now expects the sales to further grow in the high-single digit range, at constant exchange rates. Core earnings per share are targeted to grow broadly in line with sales, at constant exchange rates, Roche said. It also expects to further increase its dividend in Swiss francs.
Commenting on the Group’s results, Roche CEO Severin Schwan said: “The uptake of our newly introduced medicines is very strong. We are successfully entering new disease areas and providing important new
treatment options to serve more patients with severe conditions. Based on the strong demand for our new medicines and continued progress of our product pipeline we have raised the outlook for 2019 and I am confident that we will continue to grow beyond this year.”