ZURICH: Roche, the world's biggest maker of cancer drugs, reported a 3 percent rise in sales in the first quarter on Wednesday, with growth held back by a strong Swiss franc.
The Basel-based firm said sales in the first three months rose to 11.833 billion Swiss francs ($12.40 billion) from 11.496 billion year-ago. This beat analyst views, which averaged 11.492 billion in a Reuters poll.
Despite its leading position in the hottest therapy area for drug research, Roche has been knocked back by the failure of two breast cancer and Alzheimer's studies late last year, as well as the sudden unpegging of the franc from the euro, which has caused a surge in the Swiss currency.
Roche said the strong franc knocked two percentage points off its sales in the quarter.
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