Roche's pharmaceutical sales moved up 18 per cent to 6155 Swiss Francs (CHF) million during the first quarter ended March 2005 from 5217 CHF million in the corresponding period of last year. This was three times the global market growth rte of roughly 7 per cent, resulting in significant market share gains. Growth was driven primarily by strong demand for the division's oncology products, including the new cancer treatments Avastin and Tarceva, and by the anti-influenza drug Tamiflu.

Overall sales were up 28 per cent in North America, 14 per cent in Europe and 32 per cent in Japan. The sales of pharma products in Japan are advancing faster than the market average in all three regions. Avastin, for the treatment of colorectal cancer, posted first-quarter sales of 260 million CHF, bringing to roughly one billion CHF the total sales generated by the product since its US launch by Genetech about one year ago. In January, the European Commission approved Avastin for the first-line treatment of patients with advanced colorectal cancer, and the drug is already available in key European markets, including Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Commenting on the first quarter of 2005, Franz B Humer, chairman and CEO said, "Sales advanced by a very strong 17 per cent, extending the record of success our Group has sustained in recent years. And at the same time our product development activities are setting the stage for future growth. Recent data show that Avastin extends the lives of lung cancer patients and significantly improves progression-free survival in patients with breast cancer. Moreover, the FDA recently approved Boniva/Bonviva as the first and only once-monthly tablet for osteoporosis."

The Pharmaceutical division is expected to do better in terms of sales and operating margins during the full year 2005. The company's total sales from pharmaceutical and diagnostics divisions touched to 8.1 billion CHF during the quarter ended March 2005.