© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The brand of Swiss drugmaker Roche is seen at its headquarters in Basel, Switzerland January 30, 2020. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann
By Ludwig Burger
(Reuters) -Swiss drugmaker Roche’s first quarter gross sales rose a better-than-expected 10% on robust U.S. demand for speedy COVID-19 antigen assessments and medicines together with Ocrevus in opposition to a number of sclerosis in addition to Hemlibra in opposition to haemophilia.
Quarterly gross sales rose to 16.44 billion Swiss francs ($17.17 billion), up from 14.93 billion Swiss francs within the year-earlier interval, the corporate mentioned on Monday. That was barely above a market consensus of about 16 billion francs.
The diagnostics division accounted for many of the optimistic shock, reporting gross sales progress of 24% to five.3 billion francs on utilization of its COVID-19 assessments and cardiac assessments.
Roche reiterated that it anticipated currency-adjusted 2022 gross sales to be flat or develop within the low-single-digit proportion vary, under final yr’s 9% achieve.
It additionally reaffirmed that gross sales of COVID-19 medicines and diagnostics would lower by about 2 billion Swiss francs this yr to round 5 billion francs.
Ocrevus income gained 18% to succeed in 1.45 billion francs and Hemlibra gross sales jumped 30% to 853 million francs, offsetting a decline in established off-patent most cancers medicines Herceptin, Avastin and Rituxan attributable to cheaper rival merchandise.
($1 = 0.9577 Swiss francs)
