Top three drugs boost Roche's first-half earnings

BASEL, Switzerland (Reuters) - Strong sales of its top three drugs and new expensive breast cancer treatments helped Roche Holding AG post a bigger-than-expected rise in first-half core earnings of 10 percent.

The world's largest maker of cancer drugs said first-half sales rose 4 percent to 23.295 billion Swiss francs (16.23 billion pounds), generating core earnings per share (EPS) of 7.58 francs, up 10 percent.

Analysts on average had forecast sales of 23.293 billion francs and core EPS of 7.35 francs in a Reuters poll.

Sales of its top-three cancer medicines - Rituxan, Herceptin and Avastin - with the latter growing 12 percent in the first half due to strong demand in ovarian and colorectal cancer - helped offset a weaker performance from its hepatitis drug Pegasys.

But the performance of its smaller diagnostics division was once again dragged down by diabetes care where sales fell 5 percent, due to stiff competition and pricing pressure.

Roche's drug business has been spared the pain of a wave of patent expiries ravaging rivals as most of its top-selling cancer drugs are biotech drugs consisting of proteins which are derived from living organisms and difficult to copy.

With these medicines expected to face competition from cheaper copies known as "biosimilars" from 2016, the Basel-based firm is pinning its hopes on "follow-on" products to extend the shelf life of its current best seller and shore up mid-term sales.

In a sign that its strategy is having some success, it notched up strong sales of its new breast cancer drugs, Perjeta and Kadcyla, which it plans to use in combination with its third-best seller, Herceptin. Sales of the three drugs grew 11 percent to 3.3 billion francs in the first half.

However, its efforts to diversify beyond its cancer expertise have met with less success. Earlier this month, it decided to halt development of a diabetes drug, the latest high-profile setback in the area of cardio metabolic disease.

The company expects full-year sales to grow in line with 2012 when they rose 7 percent, and core earnings to rise ahead of revenues. It said it expected to further increase its dividend in 2013.

(Reporting by Caroline Copley; Editing by Matt Driskill)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/top-three-drugs-boost-roches-first-half-earnings-051709509.html

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