Roche sales down 5% as currency effects outweigh gains for haemophilia drug

By Marleen Kaesebier and Maggie Fick

ZURICH, April 23 (Reuters) – Swiss drugmaker Roche’s first-quarter sales dropped by 5%, it said on Thursday, citing unfavourable foreign exchange effects that offset strength in the pharmaceuticals division.

Since the start of the Iran War at the end of February, the U.S. dollar has weakened against the Swiss franc. It is down by around 1% this year after losing about 12% last year, weighing on Roche’s overseas sales.

Quarterly group revenue at 14.7 billion Swiss francs ($18.7 billion) was in line with average analyst expectations of about 14.7 billion francs compiled by Visible Alpha. Roche also confirmed its full-year targets. 

Its share price was up by around 2% in mid-session trading, outperforming the wider Swiss index, which was flat.

At constant exchange rates, first-quarter sales rose 6%, driven by multiple sclerosis drug Ocrevus and once-monthly haemophilia shot Hemlibra. Their sales gained 6% and 13% respectively in currency-adjusted terms during the quarter. 

NEW DRUGS TO ENTER THE MARKET?

CEO Thomas Schinecker told media that its breast cancer pill giredestrant is expected to receive FDA approval by the end of the year.

Roche is also seeking to become the next company to enter the weight-loss market, which is led by Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk. 

In March, Schinecker told media he expected the Swiss company to be among the top three in the weight-loss market.

However, in March data on the obesity drug petrelintide fell short of investor expectations. Roche is developing the drug with Denmark’s Zealand Pharma. 

Schinecker said on Thursday that he believed petrelintide can still compete with other amylin-based drugs in development by rivals due to its tolerability. It has shown fewer and less severe gastrointestinal side effects in early trials than Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound, despite weight-loss effects being lower than hoped.

($1 = 0.7854 Swiss francs)

(Reporting by Marleen Kaesebier and Patricia Weiss; Editing by Ludwig Burger, Edwina Gibbs and Barbara Lewis)