“The corona pandemic continues to pose an enormous challenge worldwide.” Says Severin Schwan CEO Roche

Basel, 23 July 2020

First half of the year with 1% growth at constant exchange rates, significant impact of COVID-19 pandemic

• Group sales increase 1%¹ at constant exchange rates and decline 4% in Swiss francs as a result of continued appreciation of the Swiss franc against most currencies
• COVID-19 pandemic has a negative impact on sales during the second quarter; since June sales are recovering
• Pharmaceuticals Division sales up 1%, driven by newly launched medicines (+37%),² including Tecentriq, Hemlibra, Ocrevus and Perjeta, compensating for the impact of competition from biosimilars
• Diagnostics Division sales grow 3%, with COVID-19 testing as the main contributor; routine testing declining as COVID-19 causes delays of patients visiting physicians
• Approvals for medicines in the second quarter:
  • in the US: Tecentriq as a first-line monotherapy for certain people with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer; Tecentriq in combination with Avastin for people with the most common form of liver cancer; Phesgo for HER2-positive breast cancer
  • in Japan, Canada and Switzerland: Enspryng (satralizumab) for the treatment of a rare neurodegenerative disease (neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder)
  • in Europe: Ocrevus with shorter infusion time
• Completion of phase III trial enrolment for pivotal studies in Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s disease and start of four important phase III studies in oncology
• Diagnostic launches in the second quarter: several tests for COVID-19 diagnosis; cobas prime, a pre-analytical system for automation in molecular labs; digital pathology algorithms for non-small cell lung cancer and breast cancer
• Core earnings per share up 2%
• On IFRS basis, net income increases 3%
• Outlook for 2020 confirmed

Roche’s contributions to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in the second quarter:

• Launches of several new diagnostic tools for COVID-19, including the Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 test, Roche v-TAC digital algorithm and the Elecsys IL-6 test
• Production capacity for SARS-CoV-2 tests ramped up significantly
• Six different medicines in 28 clinical trials for COVID-19 infections
• Read-out of Covacta study with Actemra/RoActemra expected soon
• Commenting on the Group’s performance in the first half of the year, Roche CEO Severin Schwan said: “The corona pandemic continues to pose an enormous challenge worldwide. I am grateful that, in close collaboration with health authorities, we have been able to make a number of SARS-CoV-2 tests available and start several global Actemra/RoActemra phase III studies in COVID-19 pneumonia. At the same time, Roche’s regular business was significantly impacted by the pandemic in the second quarter. But we now see clear signs of recovery. Furthermore, the uptake of our recently introduced medicines and diagnostic tests continues to be strong. Based on our current assessment of the impact of the pandemic, we can confirm the outlook for the full year.”