NEW YORK – Roche on Thursday reported its Diagnostics division revenues declined 1 percent year over year in the first half of 2024.
However, its base Dx business saw 9 percent growth at constant exchange rates due to demand for immunodiagnostic products, including cardiac, oncology, and thyroid tests.
For the first half of 2024, Roche reported CHF 29.85 billion ($33.99 billion) in total sales compared to CHF 29.78 billion during the first half of 2023. At constant exchange rates (CER), sales rose 5 percent year over year. The firm's base business, excluding COVID-19 product sales, grew 8 percent at CER.
Revenues for the Diagnostics division came in at CHF 7.21 billion, down 1 percent from CHF 7.27 billion in revenues during the same period last year. At CER, Diagnostics revenues grew 5 percent year over year.
COVID-19 test sales in the period were CHF 100 million, down from CHF 400 million in the first half of 2023. Roche CEO Thomas Schinecker said on a conference call to discuss the firm's financial results that most of the COVID-19 impact is now "washed out" and that there was little COVID-19 impact in the second quarter.
Roche Diagnostics CEO Matt Sause added that COVID-19 rapid antigen tests will likely not meaningfully contribute to diagnostics sales going forward.
Core lab revenues were up 3 percent to CHF 4.07 billion from CHF 3.94 billion in the first half of 2023 and constituted 56 percent of diagnostics sales. The immunodiagnostics business grew 11 percent while the clinical chemistry business was up 8 percent.
Molecular lab diagnostics revenues fell 1 percent to CHF 1.28 billion from CHF 1.29 billion in H1 of 2023 and made up 18 percent of Roche's diagnostics sales during the first half of 2024. The molecular COVID-19 testing business declined by 67 percent, while the blood screening business and the virology base business were both up 13 percent.
Near Patient Care revenues fell 19 percent to CHF 1.10 billion in the first half of the year from CHF 1.36 billion in H1 2023, making up 15 percent of overall diagnostics sales. Revenues were largely impacted by a 60 percent decline in COVID-19 lateral flow test sales, Sause said.
Sause touted the launch of the Cobas Liat respiratory panel for COVID-19, influenza A/B, and respiratory syncytial virus that received Emergency Use Authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration in June, noting that Roche will be introducing the test "well in time" for the Northern Hemisphere's respiratory illness season. He added that the firm is going to continue to expand the test menu on the Liat instrument because it is an "important driver of our business going forward."
Pathology Lab revenues rose 12 percent to CHF 770 million from CHF 687 million in H1 of 2023, constituting 11 percent of overall diagnostic sales. Advanced staining revenues grew 11 percent, while the companion diagnostics business rose 46 percent.
By geography, diagnostics sales at CER for H1 rose 3 percent in Asia Pacific, increased 5 percent in North America, grew 4 percent in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and were up 16 percent in Latin America.
Net income for the Roche Group declined to CHF 6.70 billion, or CHF 10.23 per share, in H1 from CHF 7.56 billion, or CHF 10.10 per share, in the first half of 2023.
Roche raised its guidance and now expects growth in the mid-single-digit percent range at CER for full-year 2024. Core EPS is expected to grow in the high-single-digit percent range for the year. The increased guidance reflects the "strong momentum that we have in terms of operating profit growth as well as strong cost control," Schinecker said.
Sause noted that Roche forecasts growth in the mid- to high-single-digit percent range for the diagnostics base business in 2024.