Roche Sees Slower Profit Growth on Cost of Drug Transition

Roche Holding AG is bracing for slower earnings growth this year as its ageing cancer blockbusters face competition and the Swiss drugmaker readies a new generation of medicines. The world’s biggest maker of cancer drugs is pushing out new treatments such as the cancer immune therapy Tecentriq to buoy earnings as it faces the prospect of biosimilar competition for its top sellers Rituxan, Herceptin and Avastin, targeted tumor therapies that were revolutionary when they were first approved in the late 1990s and mid-2000s.

Cheating Death Can Cost $200,000 as Cancer Tops Pharma Sales

Years before becoming a top cancer specialist, Eric Winer used to save money on his own medical care by talking U.S. pharmacists into giving him expired treatments for free. Winer, who has a bleeding disorder known as hemophilia, knew the drugs would still work for a brief time after the official use-by date.