Sales of diagnostics, including new tools for identifying Covid-19, showed a double-digit increase at Roche in the first half year. By comparison, the turnover for pharmaceuticals fell, led by declines for the Avastin and Herceptin cancer medicines which are facing competition from less expensive biosimilars. Altogether, group sales were CHF 30.7 billion for the first six months, up by 5% from a year earlier. Pharmaceuticals generated CHF 21.7 billion, down by 7%, while diagnostics had sales of CHF 9 billion, up by 49%.
