Roche has posted better performance during the year ended December 2012 mainly on account of growing demand for its cancer medicines and increased sales of diagnostic tests to clinical laboratories. Its net profit improved marginally by 2 per cent to Swiss Francs (CHF) 9,773 million as against CHF 9,544 million in the previous year. Its sales increased by 7 per cent to CHF 45,499 million from CHF 42,531 million. EPS worked out to CHF 13.62 as compared to  CHF 12.30 in the last year. The company proposed dividend increase of 8 per cent to CHF 7.35, the 26th consecutive year of growth.

The sales of pharmaceutical division increased 7.4 per cent to CHF 35,232 million from CHF 32,794 million and that of diagnostics division by 5.4 per cent to CHF 10,267 million from CHF 9,737 million in the previous year. The US and emerging markets remained the main regional growth drivers for the Group, offsetting lower sales in Western Europe, which were weaker due to ongoing price pressure and generic competition. The sales of cancer medicines increased by 9 per cent.

Its three top-selling products MabThera/Rituxan, Herceptin and Avastin all performed strongly in 2012 as demand grew in all regions. It is also benefiting from significant uptake in Japan. The sales of MabThera/Rituxan went up to CHF 6,707 million and that of Herceptin improved by 11 per cent to CHF 5,889 million. Avastin sales increased by 6 per cent to CHF 5,764 million.

Its R&D pipeline continued to deliver in 2012 with 11 positive results out of 14 late-stage trials. The Group also launched three new cancer drugs viz., Perjeta for HER-2 positive metastatic breast cancer and Erivedge for advanced basal cell carcinoma in the US, and Zelboraf for BRAF V600 mutation-positive metastatic melanoma in Europe. Its R&D expenditure increased by 14.7 per cent to CHF9,552 million from CHF8,326 million.

Severin Schwan, CEO, said, “2012 was a very good year for Roche. We met our financial targets, grew faster than the market, and our strong pipeline positions us well for further growth. A particular highlight in 2012 was the approval of breast cancer medicine Perjeta, which helps women with HER2-positive breast cancer live longer, We now look forward to getting T-DM1, our other novel breast cancer therapy, to patients as soon as possible.”

Roche expects Group sales in 2013 to increase in line with the sales growth recorded in 2012 at constant exchange rates. Core EPS is targeted to grow ahead of sales. Roche expects to further increase its dividend for 2013.