[Ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR] Roche reports strong 2024 results with 7% sales growth; fourth quarter marks third straight quarter of 9% growth

Group salesgrew by 7% 1at constant exchange rates (CER; 3% in CHF), driven by strong demand for both medicines and diagnostics.Excluding COVID-19,Group salesincreased by 9%. COVID-19 will not adversely impact our results from 2025 onwards.Thefourth quarterwas the third consecutive quarter of 9% sales growth, highlighting the very positive momentum. Pharmaceuticals Division salesrose by 8% (excluding COVID-19 medicine: 9%) on growing demand for newer medicines; top...

Basel, 30/01/2025 (informazione.news - comunicati stampa - salute e benessere)

Outlook for 2025
Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) expects an increase in Group sales in the mid single digit range (CER). Core earnings per share are targeted to develop in the high single digit range (CER). Roche expects to further increase its dividend in Swiss francs.

Roche CEO Thomas Schinecker : “2024 was a strong year for Roche. In the fourth quarter, we continued our very positive momentum for the third consecutive quarter with Group sales growth of 9% (CER). Core earnings per share exceeded the guidance raised at half year.

We are proud to have made a positive impact on patients' lives in 2024 with the launch of two new medicines – Itovebi for a hard-to-treat breast cancer and PiaSky for a serious blood disorder – as well as our new solution for continuous blood glucose monitoring and our innovative system for fully automated mass spectrometry.

Last year, we substantially strengthened our pipeline through the acceleration of internal key programmes and new partnerships and acquisitions such as Poseida Therapeutics for cell therapy in oncology and autoimmune diseases.

Roche is well positioned for future growth.”

Group results
In 2024, Roche achieved sales growth of 7% (3% in CHF) to CHF 60.5 billion.

Core earnings per share rose by 12%, excluding the base effect of the resolution of tax disputes in 2023. Including this impact, core earnings per share increased by 7%.

The appreciation of the Swiss franc against most currencies had a significant impact on the results reported in Swiss francs compared to constant exchange rates.

Strong demand for both pharmaceutical products and diagnostic solutions more than made up for the expected decline of CHF 1.1 billion in COVID-19-related sales and an impact of CHF 1.0 billion from the loss of exclusivity on Avastin (various types of cancer), Herceptin (breast and gastric cancer), MabThera/Rituxan (blood cancer, rheumatoid arthritis), Esbriet (lung disease), Lucentis (severe eye diseases) and Actemra/RoActemra (rheumatoid arthritis, COVID-19).

Core operating profit rose by 14% (8% in CHF) to CHF 20.8 billion, driven by higher sales, improved gross margin and effective cost management.

IFRS net income decreased by 19% (26% in CHF) to CHF 9.2 billion, mainly due to impairment charges to goodwill of CHF 3.2 billion related to Flatiron Health and Spark Therapeutics.

Sales in the Pharmaceuticals Division increased by 8% to CHF 46.2 billion, with newer medicines for severe diseases continuing their strong growth.

The top four growth drivers – Vabysmo, Phesgo, Ocrevus and Hemlibra – achieved total sales of CHF 16.9 billion. This represents a plus of CHF 3.3 billion at CER compared to 2023.

Vabysmo, launched in early 2022, continued to be a major growth driver, generating sales of CHF 3.9 billion on growing demand in all regions.

Sales of Avastin, Herceptin, MabThera/Rituxan, Esbriet, Lucentis and Actemra/RoActemra decreased by a combined CHF 1.0 billion (CER) due to the impact of loss of exclusivity. Sales of the COVID-19 medicine Ronapreve were minimal compared to sales in Japan of CHF 0.5 billion in 2023.

In the United States , sales rose by 9%. Vabysmo, Ocrevus, Xolair (allergies) and Polivy were the main growth drivers. This growth more than compensated for the decline in sales of Lucentis (severe eye diseases) and lower sales of medicines with expired patents.

Sales in Europe grew 8% as sales growth due to the continued rollout of Vabysmo and the uptake of Phesgo, Ocrevus, Hemlibra and Evrysdi (spinal muscular atrophy) more than compensated for the decline in sales of medicines with expired patents, the impact of biosimilar competition on Actemra/RoActemra sales and lower sales of Perjeta (breast cancer) due to ongoing conversion of patients to Phesgo.

In Japan , sales decreased by 16%, reflecting the base effect of Ronapreve sales in the first half of 2023 that did not reoccur in 2024. Excluding Ronapreve, sales in Japan fell by 2% as price cuts and biosimilar and generic erosion more than offset the growth in sales of Phesgo, Vabysmo and Hemlibra.

Sales in the International region grew by 17%, led by China, Canada and Brazil. In China, sales rose by 6%, driven by continued sales growth of Perjeta, Alecensa (early-stage lung cancer) and Avastin as well as higher sales of Xofluza (influenza) and the rollout of Polivy.

The Diagnostics Division's base business sales increased by 8%, led by the increased demand for immunodiagnostic products and by higher sales of clinical chemistry tests, advanced staining solutions and companion diagnostics.

Overall, the Diagnostics Division reported sales growth of 4% to CHF 14.3 billion, reflecting the anticipated drop in demand for COVID-19-related products (sales of CHF 0.2 billion in 2024 compared to CHF 0.8 billion in 2023).

Sales in the Europe, Middle East and Africa ( EMEA) region increased by 5%, driven by higher sales of immunodiagnostic products, clinical chemistry tests and advanced staining solutions. In North America , there was growth in the underlying base business across customer areas. Sales in Asia-Pacific decreased by 5% as higher sales of immunodiagnostic products were offset by the expected drop in demand for COVID-19-related tests.

Pharmaceuticals Division: pipeline
With 71 new molecular entities (NMEs) and a total of 122 projects, Roche has a promising pipeline with a wide variety of therapeutic approaches.

Pharmaceuticals research and development (R&D) expenditure grew by 1% to CHF 11.1 billion (Group R&D: 1% to CHF 13.0 billion). Oncology remained the primary area for R&D, with substantial investments also in the areas of immunology and cardiovascular, renal and metabolism.

Pharmaceuticals: key developments

Pharmaceuticals sales

*Asia-Pacific, CEETRIS (Central Eastern Europe, Türkiye, Russia and Indian subcontinent), Latin America, Middle East, Africa, Canada, others

** Over 500%
DME: diabetic macular edema / nAMD: neovascular or 'wet' age-related macular degeneration / RVO: retinal vein occlusion / RA: rheumatoid arthritis

Diagnostics: key developments

Diagnostics sales

More information on Roche performance in 2024:

About Roche
Founded in 1896 in Basel, Switzerland, as one of the first industrial manufacturers of branded medicines, Roche has grown into the world's largest biotechnology company and the global leader in in-vitro diagnostics. The company pursues scientific excellence to discover and develop medicines and diagnostics for improving and saving the lives of people around the world. We are a pioneer in personalised healthcare and want to further transform how healthcare is delivered to have an even greater impact. To provide the best care for each person we partner with many stakeholders and combine our strengths in Diagnostics and Pharma with data insights from the clinical practice.

For over 125 years, sustainability has been an integral part of Roche's business. As a science-driven company, our greatest contribution to society is developing innovative medicines and diagnostics that help people live healthier lives. Roche is committed to the Science Based Targets initiative and the Sustainable Markets Initiative to achieve net zero by 2045. 

Genentech, in the United States, is a wholly owned member of the Roche Group. Roche is the majority shareholder in Chugai Pharmaceutical, Japan.

For more information, please visit www.roche.com.

All trademarks used or mentioned in this release are protected by law.

References
[1] Unless otherwise stated, all growth rates and comparisons to the previous year in this document are at constant exchange rates (CER: average rates 2023) and all total figures quoted are reported in CHF.
[2] Pharmaceuticals Division base business: excluding COVID-19 medicine Ronapreve.
Diagnostics Division base business: excluding COVID-19-related products.
[3] Products launched before 2015.
[4] Core Lab: diagnostics solutions in the areas of immunoassays, clinical chemistry and CustomBiotech.
Molecular Lab: diagnostics solutions for pathogen detection and monitoring, donor screening, sexual health and genomics, genomic tumour profiling.
Near Patient Care: diagnostics solutions in emergency rooms, medical practices and directly with patients, including integrated personalised diabetes management.
Pathology Lab: diagnostics solutions for tissue biopsies and companion diagnostics.
[5] Sales in the Molecular Lab customer area include sales from the Foundation Medicine business, which moved under the responsibility of the Diagnostics Division from the Pharmaceuticals Division effective 1 January 2024. The comparative information for 2023 has been restated accordingly.
[6] Sales in the new Near Patient Care customer area include sales from Diabetes Care and the Point of Care business, both previously shown as separate customer areas. The comparative information for 2023 has been restated accordingly.

Cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements
This document contains certain forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as 'believes', 'expects', 'anticipates', 'projects', 'intends', 'should', 'seeks', 'estimates', 'future' or similar expressions or by discussion of, among other things, strategy, goals, plans or intentions. Various factors may cause actual results to differ materially in the future from those reflected in forward-looking statements contained in this document, such as: (1) pricing and product initiatives of competitors; (2) legislative and regulatory developments and economic conditions; (3) delay or inability in obtaining regulatory approvals or bringing products to market; (4) fluctuations in currency exchange rates and general financial market conditions; (5) uncertainties in the discovery, development or marketing of new products or new uses of existing products, including without limitation negative results of clinical trials or research projects, unexpected side effects of pipeline or marketed products; (6) increased government pricing pressures; (7) interruptions in production; (8) loss of or inability to obtain adequate protection for intellectual property rights; (9) litigation; (10) loss of key executives or other employees; and (11) adverse publicity and news coverage. The statement regarding earnings per share growth is not a profit forecast and should not be interpreted to mean that Roche's earnings or earnings per share for this or any subsequent period will necessarily match or exceed the historical published earnings or earnings per share of Roche.

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