Roche’s sales of Covid drugs fall by $1bn

Roche chief executive Severin Schwan said health authorities are holding back from ordering more coronavirus tests and treatments despite a rise in cases, after sales of the company’s Covid-19 drugs fell SFr1.12bn ($1bn) in the first nine months of the year.

The Swiss pharmaceutical company sells the antibody treatment ronapreve and the anti-inflammatory actemra, originally developed for arthritis, for Covid.

Schwan said a drop in government orders was probably caused by fewer severe Covid cases, which meant healthcare systems were better able to cope.

Revenue from Roche Covid tests was down 40 per cent year on year to SFr600,000 ($604,000).

“In spite of increasing incidence rates for Covid-19, we actually don’t see an increase in the demand for Covid-19 related products,” he said. “It has nothing to do with inventories . . . there is simply much smaller demand than we have seen in the previous year.”

Covid-19 cases are rising in European countries including the UK, Germany, and France, although they are still far from their Omicron-driven peak earlier this year. In the US, the numbers are falling, after a rise during the summer. Case numbers are widely expected to increase as winter approaches in the northern hemisphere.

Analysts at Jefferies said the drop in Covid drug sales in the third quarter was worse than expected. Shares fell 1.5 per cent to CHF 324.85 in mid-morning trading.

Sales were also hit by increasing competition from “biosimilars” — generic versions of biologic drugs — especially for older cancer medicines, reducing revenue by $1.5bn.

But Roche confirmed its full-year guidance, forecasting stable sales or growth in the low single-digit percentages at constant exchange rates. It expects core earnings per share will increase in the low- to mid-single-digit range and to increase its dividend.

In the first nine months of the year, total sales rose 2 per cent year on year at constant exchange rates, with growth driven by newer medicines to treat illnesses including multiple sclerosis, spinal muscular atrophy and breast cancer.

Vabysmo, a new drug that treats two of the leading causes of vision loss, is already in Roche’s top five selling medicines, after launching in the US at the start of the year. It received approval in the EU in September. “It’s a very important new medicine to treat age-related blindness,” Schwan said.

Roche expects to report results from a trial of gantenerumab, its Alzheimer’s drug, within weeks. Expectations have been raised after Biogen and Eisai reported that their drug lecanemab slowed progression of the notoriously difficult to treat disease.