The Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche reported a 6 percent decline in sales to 14.4 billion Swiss Francs (14.8 billion Euros) in the first quarter of 2024, according to the company. This decline reflects the final effects of the dwindling Corona revenues. However, at constant exchange rates, the revenue would have increased by 2 percent, which is in line with management's objectives. Roche sees this as overcoming the aftermath of the pandemic-related revenues.

In both main divisions of the group, pharmaceuticals and diagnostics, revenues fell by 6 percent respectively. The pharmaceutical sector reported sales of 10.9 billion Swiss Francs, with the eye medication Vabysmo, introduced at the beginning of 2022, being one of the biggest growth drivers. The diagnostics division achieved sales of 3.5 billion Swiss Francs, but showed strong performance in the core business.

Despite the decline in sales, Roche confirmed its outlook for the fiscal year and expects an increase in sales in the mid-single-digit percentage range at constant exchange rates, as well as a similar increase in adjusted earnings per share. The group also plans to increase the dividend in Swiss francs.

Analysts, such as Peter Welford from Jefferies, largely see the figures within the range of expectations and emphasize Roche's confirmation of annual targets. The US analysis firm Bernstein praises the figures as overall good but notes that investors are waiting for further impulses from the product pipeline.

Roche is engaged in an ongoing process of reviewing its pipeline to focus on promising projects that could either become class leaders or represent a significant improvement over standard therapy, explained CEO Thomas Schinecker. About 20 percent of the projects have already been discontinued since the third quarter of 2023 to increase efficiency.

The focus is also on the Chinese market, which is considered an important source of growth due to its size, particularly in the diagnostics division, as Matt Sause, head of the diagnostics division, emphasized. Despite the challenging global environment and the expected losses due to generic products, which are likely to cost around 1.6 billion Swiss francs in 2024, Roche remains confident about the future.