Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche said on April 17 its first quarter sales fell four percent on a local currency basis due to a drop in its key flu drug Tamiflu. Overall group sales fell to 10.85 billion Swiss francs (6.8 billion euros, 10.8 billion dollars) from 11.35 billion francs the previous year.
Excluding Tamiflu, group sales rose two percent to 10.81 billion Swiss francs, the company said in a statement. Roche confirmed its full year target of high single-digit sales growth on the basis of the first quarter figures. "Despite considerably lower Tamiflu pandemic sales and significantly higher R&D spending, Roche is aiming for 2008 core EPS (earnings per share) at constant exchange rates to remain at least in line with the record level achieved in 2007," it said.
Chief executive officer Severin Schwan said that Tamiflu sales had reached almost 750 million Swiss francs in the "strong first quarter benchmark" set in 2007. Despite lower Tamiflu sales in the current quarter, "Roche is off to a very good start in 2008," Schwan said.
"Excluding pandemic sales of Tamiflu, both divisions achieved above-market sales growth. This means we are on track to achieve the goals we announced for 2008," he added.
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