Dip in 1st-qtr pharma sales at Roche

Roche of Switzerland has posted sales of 7.0 billion Swiss francs ($4.11billion) for the first quarter of 2001, an increase of 3%, though its pharmaceutical division took a slight knock as turnover slipped 2% to 4.49 billion francs.

The company said that the dip in pharmaceutical turnover was principally due to patent expiry in the USA for Versed/Dormicum (midazolam) for anesthesia, which resulted in 170 million francs in lost sales, and Rocephin (ceftriaxone) falling 24% to 420 million francs, "due to a very mild flu season." The influenza drug Tamiflu (oseltamivir) continued to pick up market share in the USA, but Roche added that sales only managed to advance slightly, again hit by the mild flu season.

Products coming from affiliate Genentech performed well, namely the oncology drugs MabThera/Rituxan (rituximab) and Herceptin (trastuzumab). Old Roche favorites, such as NeoRecormon (epoetin beta) for anemia and the acne treatment Roaccutan/Accutane (isotretinoin), continued to grow, but the immunosuppressant CellCept (mycophenolate) only increased 5% to 230 million francs. Sales of the antiobesity drug Xenical (orlistat) declined 4% to 240 million francs.