Roche's Schwan says new drugs will replace lost sales - NZZ am Sonntag

New Delhi: Roche Cheif Executive Severin Schwan has announced that new drugs the pharma company is developing will replace the roughly 10 billion Swiss francs ($9.97 billion) lost from old cancer drugs, the executive told Swiss newspaper NZZ am Sonntag.

Roche's three best-selling drugs - all for cancer - had combined sales of $21 billion last year, accounting for 40 per cent of the company's overall sales.

But the drugs - Rituxan, Herceptin and Avastin - now face a steep decline due to cheap near-copies, known as biosimilars, made by rivals including Switzerland's Novartis and South Korea's Celltrion

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"We have five, six cancer products potentially worth billions (of Swiss francs)," Schwan said in the interview published on Sunday.

"In addition to multiple sclerosis, there are also new drugs for haemophilia or haemophilia. In sum, they will replace the lost sales." Further company coverage.