As the fourth largest pharmaceutical company in the world, with annual revenues of $43.9 billion, some of the most

instantly recognisable drugsmarketed and the kind of pipeline smaller companies only dream of, Roche’s performance seems beyond reproach.

The headlines speak for themselves: While pharmaceutical revenues rose 11 per cent in Q3, boosted by sales of Tamiflu, net income at Roche Group fell 29 per cent in the first half of 2009, as the cost of the Genentech deal took effect.

The FDA approved Valcyte for paediatric indication and Avastin for renal cancer, while the EMEA gave the nod to MabThera for rheumatic arthritis.

 On the corporate landscape, the company announced the buyout by Genentech of Lonza’s cell culture biologic manufacturing facility in Singapore for $360 million, while appointing new C-level executives.

But behind the glowing headlines lies another story. Despite facing just one more year of debt repayment for the Genentech takeover, Roche recently announced layoffs in the company’s late-stage drug development and administration areas. What’s more, while several key drug profiles such as Xenical and Xolair are under review by the FDA, the company is facing stiff

competition from Tamiflu generics and an increasingly aggressive antiviral development market.
In six months of Roche’s major successes and setbacks, the question is: How does the positive news balance against the negative?