Swiss pharmaceutical firm Roche today reported better than expected first-half profits as drug sales revived in the second quarter, but the group remained cautious on the full year.
Net profit $1.77 billion was $300 million more than analysts had expected from the embattled company.
Roche forecast good single-digit growth for the full year in pharmaceutical sales after five per cent in the first half overall and 11 per cent in the second quarter.
Much of the strength seen in the pharmaceuticals division was down to cancer drugs like Herceptin and Mabthera/Rituxan from Roche's separately listed US biotech unit Genentech.
Elsewhere in the Roche drug stable, anaesthetic Versed/Dormicum was hit by generic competition while controversial anti-obesity drug Xenical achieved first-half sales growth of four per cent. Roche said Xenical was helped by new launches in Asia while declining sales in the US were stablising and showing some signs of recovery.