Roche is the world leader in cancer treatments and our focus is on developing therapeutics for unmet medical need in the areas of oncology, immunology, ophthalmology, infectious diseases and neuroscience.
As of 2015, sales by Roche’s Pharmaceuticals Division totaled 37.3 billion Swiss francs, while the company’s Diagnostics Division posted sales of 10.8 billion francs. During the same year, Roche’s 25 top-selling medicines treated approximately 25 million patients worldwide, while over 15 billion diagnostics tests were also undertaken. Roche has R&D agreements and strategic alliances with numerous partners, including majority ownership interests in California-based Genentech, Japan-based Chugai, and Arizona-based Ventana. Roche is active in 150 countries on all continents, and employs approximately 92,000 people worldwide.
Some of Roche’s key pharmaceutical products include: Avastin®, Herceptin®, Rituxan®, Gazyva®, Cotellic®, Zelboraf®, Perjeta®, Kadcyla®, Actemra®, and Erivedge®.
On the diagnostics front, key products include: the Accu-Chek series of diabetes monitoring systems, the AmpliChip® microarray, the CoaguChek monitor, Cobas 4000 and 6000 analyser series, Elecsys® automated assay products, as well as insulin pumps, cardiac markers, urinalysis systems, and blood gas analyzers.
Roche Canada was established in Montreal in 1931. The company currently employs 1,220 people across the country; 770 in its Pharmaceuticals Division, based in Mississauga, Ontario, and 450 in Diagnostics, based in Laval, Quebec.
Roche Canada Pharmaceuticals is currently the #1 drug manufacturer in terms of hospital sales, and is ranked 7th in total pharmaceuticals sales in the country by IMS Health. The Group has also been named one of Canada’s 50 Best Employers for the past five years, according to publications by the Globe and Mail.
In 2015, Roche invested approximately $15 million in Canadian ($12.4 billion globally) in research and development, specifically towards the development of therapies through clinical trials. Canada is a leader in clinical trial recruitment within the Roche world with approximately 130 studies and 2,590 patients enrolled among the 435 open sites across the country as of June, 2016.