Roche Sales declined in the first three months of the year, as the strength of the Swiss franc and generic competition for some of its older drugs weighed on the drugmaker.
Sales in the first quarter came in at 14.7 billion Swiss francs ($18.7 billion), down 5% year-on-year – but up 6% on a constant currency basis.
Roche said the appreciation of the Swiss franc against most currencies, particularly the US dollar, had a significant impact on results reported in Swiss francs compared to constant exchange rates.
The Swiss franc fell 12% against the US dollar in 2025 and has fallen another 1% so far this year.
CEO Thomas Schinecker defended the company’s quarterly results, saying it was “a question of how you look at the reporting” and that while the Swiss franc appreciated, sales reported in US dollars increased by 9%.
“We spend most of our money in the US, and most of our debt is in the US, we recently bought another company in the US,” he told Squawk Box Europe.
“We will continue to invest in the US and we do not consider this a major issue.”
Europe’s pharmaceutical giants are under pressure as the sector faces the loss of exclusivity at the end of the decade, when older drugs will begin to face generic competition.
Roche is betting heavily on future entry into the lucrative weight loss market, aiming to become a top three player with its experimental drug CT-388. Novo Nordisk And Eli Lilly, Which currently dominates the market.
CEO Schenecker told Germany’s Handelsblatt earlier this week that Roche is aiming for double-digit market share in weight loss.
This is a developing story…
