Exterior view of the Roche Tower (Roche Bau 1), the headquarters of the pharmaceutical company Hoffmann-La Roche in Basel
Keystone
Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche is set to cut 350 IT jobs by the end of 2017, it has confirmed.
This content was published on
1 minute
swissinfo.ch with agencies
A spokesman told Reuters that 100 posts would be cut in Switzerland and another 100 in the United States, confirming a report by the Basler Zeitung newspaper. The remainder of the job cuts would be spread across several other countries, mostly in Europe.
At the same time, the Basel-based firm plans to add 300 jobs at its shared services centres, which include Madrid, Budapest, Warsaw and Kuala Lumpur. Roche employs around 91,000 people in over 100 countries, according to its annual report.
Roche recorded strong figures in the first three months of this year beating forecasts. Sales at the world’s biggest maker of cancer drugs rose 4% to CHF12.4 billion ($12.87 billion).
Sales of its “big three” cancer medicines – Herceptin, Avastin and Rituxan that together account for more than a third of revenue – continued to climb.
The pharma giant aims to launch eight new medicines in the next three years as it seeks to mitigate a wave of patent expirations that will leave it vulnerable to biosimilar products starting in 2017.
Living longer: What do you think about the longevity trend?
The longevity market is booming thanks in part to advances in the science of ageing. What do you think of the idea of significantly extending human lifespan?
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Switzerland’s tallest building gets green light
This content was published on
The project was accepted by Basel City’s cantonal parliament on Wednesday, winning 84 votes. Two people voted against and there were five abstentions. Building 2 was designed by Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron and will house offices for around 1,700 employees. The 50-storey building will cost CHF550 million (CHF572.3 million) to build and…
Pharma funnels millions into university sponsorship
This content was published on
SRF research shows financial links between pharma giants – such as Roche, Novartis, Merck-Serono and even the industry lobby group interpharma – and several leading universities. Pharma funding paid for professorial seats and/or research at the universities of Bern, Basel, Lausanne’s Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL). The grants ranged from CHF450,000 ($467,000) annually to a…
Roche clears drug that caused vision loss in India
This content was published on
“In India, Roche has completed an assessment of the available information on the batch reported to have been used at C.H Nagri Eye Hospital in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. We can confirm that based on the information available, there is no reason to believe there were quality problems with the Avastin (Bevacizumab) vials in this batch,” a…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.