NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Roche reported today that first-quarter revenues for its diagnostics division, which includes its molecular diagnostics and applied science businesses, rose 3 percent to CHF2.36 billion ($2.06 billion) year over year.
The Swiss drugs and diagnostics giant said that its molecular diagnostics business brought in revenues of CHF294 million for the quarter with growth driven by automated real-time PCR platforms and blood-screening products.
Its applied science business generated revenues of CHF196 million for the quarter led by the sale of DNA sequencing products and microarrays, which both posted high double-digit growth, said Roche. The firm's tissue diagnostics business had Q1 sales of CHF106 million, driven by last year's $3.4 billion acquisition of Ventana Medical Systems.
Overall, the Roche Group had first-quarter revenues of CHF11.58 billion, up 7 percent year over year. That growth was driven largely by its pharmaceutical division, which posted 8 percent growth to CHF9.21 billion.
"Sales in both divisions continued to grow significantly faster than their respective markets," Roche CEO Severin Schwan said in a statement. "We are therefore confident that we can achieve our full-year targets."
Roche said that it will update its full-year outlook when it releases its half-year results. Earlier this year, the firm said that it expects mid-single digit sales growth for 2009, but that was before it inked the definitive agreement to acquire the remaining interest in Genentech.