Fergie's Tech Blog

Fear of Bird Flu Pandemic Boosts Roche Sales 17%

Via Red Herring.

Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche said on Wednesday that its sales have flourished in the first three quarters of 2005, up 17 percent from the same period last year.

Sales rose to CHF 8.8 billion ($6.8 million) from CHF 7.4 billion ($5.7 million), helped by governments stockpiling the company’s flu drug Tamiflu, which is believed will help treat symptoms in the event of a bird flu pandemic.

The Basel-based company’s pharmaceutical division also provided a key driver, growing more than three times as fast as the global market. It grew to CHF 19.4 billion ($15.0 billion) from CHF 16.1 billion ($12.4 billion), aided by a 37 percent increase in cancer drug sales.

posted by Fergie @ 10/19/2005 06:57:00 AM