Innovation is our home

Roche in Switzerland –
Innovation is our home
Roche’s sites in Switzerland
in context
Roche was founded by Fritz Hoffmann-La Roche on 1 October 1896. He was one
of the first people to recognise that major progress in combatting disease could
be achieved by producing standardised medicines industrially. From the very
beginning, the visionary entrepreneur geared his company to innovation and an
international presence. Today, this multinational presence allows us to offer our
healthcare solutions all over the world and meet each region’s specific needs. Roche
currently employs around 80,000 people worldwide and markets products in over
150 countries. Roche is one of the world’s leading healthcare companies with its two
strong core businesses of diagnostics and pharmaceuticals.
F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd
Roche Pharma (Switzerland)
Roche Diagnostics International Ltd
Roche Glycart Ltd,
Ltd, Reinach,
& Roche Diagnostics (Switzerland)
Schlieren
Canton of Basel-Land
Ltd, Rotkreuz
About 160 people work in
Reinach. Besides marketing
and distributing medicines,
the site is responsible for
coordinating clinical trials
in Switzerland, obtaining
marketing approval for
products in Switzerland and
securing reimbursable status
for medicines from Swiss
health insurance funds.
Roche Diagnostics International Ltd
in Rotkreuz, Canton of Zug, is one
of the world’s leading suppliers of
diagnostic system solutions. It was
founded in 1969 and currently
employs over 1,700 people from some
50 nations. All the key functions for
the diagnostics business are based at
the site.
Basel
Kaiseraugst
About 8,800 people work at Group headquarters in Basel and Kaiseraugst. Global functions and strategic
centres for the entire value creation chain, comprising research, development, production and marketing,
are based here. Basel is the centre of Roche’s metabolism and central nervous system research activities,
while among other things, Kaiseraugst is home to Roche’s biggest and most modern packing and logistics
centre, which ships 120 million packages of medicine each year to customers in 130 countries.
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Rotkreuz, which has over 170 staff, is
also home to the Swiss sales, marketing
and service organisation for diagnostic
system solutions, reagents/test strips
and IT and workflow services.
Roche Glycart AG was
established in the year 2000
as a spin-off of the Swiss
Federal Institute of
Technology (ETH) in
Zurich and has been part of
the Roche Group since 2005.
This biotechnology company
has a unique technology
that is designed to improve
the therapeutic effect of
antibodies, particularly in
oncology.
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Editorial
Roche specialises in two businesses,
pharmaceuticals and diagnostics, and
is one of the largest private-sector
employers in Switzerland. Roche
Pharma (Switzerland) Ltd in Reinach
is responsible for clinical trials, obtaining marketing approval for products
in Switzerland, securing reimbursable
status for medicines from Swiss health
insurance funds as well as marketing
and distributing Roche’s pharmaceutical
products in Switzerland.
Switzerland has always been our home
and will remain so, because it offers an
outstanding place to do business. The
country boasts high legal certainty, good
universities and a plentiful supply of
highly skilled employees. As a place to
conduct research, however, Switzerland
faces growing international competition, especially from Asia. This makes it
all the more important for Switzerland
to remain open to new developments. A
signal must be sent out that Switzerland
is reliant on innovative industries and
will support them accordingly. Such
signals are especially important for the
local business in such areas as clinical
trials or approval of new medicines and
new applications for existing medicines.
This brochure deliberately focuses
on the research and development of
innovative cancer treatments because
Roche is the market leader in oncology
by a substantial margin. However, as the
world’s largest biotech company, we not
only develop cancer medicines, but also
novel treatments in virology, inflammatory and metabolic disorders and
diseases of the central nervous system.
Roche is also the world’s biggest supplier of in-vitro diagnostics.
Manfred Heinzer, General Manager,
Roche Pharma (Switzerland) Ltd
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“What motivates us? Contributing to the
development of new and innovative medicines
and making them available to patients. And
expanding our understanding of approved
medicines so that we can help to improve
patients’ safety and quality of life.”
Marjan Schirinzi & Pascale Gasser
(Clinical Operations)
A strong commitment
to Switzerland
As a global enterprise that currently operates in 150 countries,
our strong Swiss roots are important to us. Our values of integrity,
courage and passion underpin the entire Group, and we uphold
them throughout the world.
Our deep roots in Switzerland are
reflected in Roche’s investments in
research and development (R&D) in the
country. The work enables us to offer
interesting employment opportunities
to highly qualified staff from all over
the world. Not only do we have nearly
11,000 direct employees, but a further
30,000 jobs depend on Roche.
As a major Swiss exporter, Roche is a
significant contributor to the country’s
prosperity. Each year, we export goods
to a value of CHF 20 billion, or 11% of
Switzerland’s total export volume.
Did you know that Roche …
 invests over CHF 5 million per day in R&D in Switzerland alone?
 is one of the three leading research institutions in Switzerland?
 employs 3,500 researchers in Switzerland?
 is responsible for 11% (CHF 20 billion) of Switzerland’s total exports?
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Hope for patients
As a leading provider of innovative cancer treatments,
Roche plays a key role in giving cancer patients the prospect
of a cure and/or better quality of life.
“Every day counts! We’re
proud to be able to give
patients the gift of a longer
and better life by developing
new medicines and providing
rapid access to them.”
Dr Constanze Kaiser
(Medical Manager Oncology)
Did you know that …
 the introduction of two medicines for breast cancer and lymphoma has resulted
in around 2,000 patients in Switzerland being cured?
 Roche products give metastatic cancer patients in Switzerland an additional
9,500 months – about 790 years – of life every year?
 four out of five diabetics who wear an insulin pump in Switzerland use a
Roche product for greater autonomy and lower treatment costs?
 since the year 2000, Roche has carried out over 100 clinical trials involving
some 1,900 patients in Switzerland?
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Hope for patients
One man in three and one woman in four
will get cancer by the age of 75
New cancer diagnoses: 34,406 a year
Deaths from cancer: 16,500 a year
One in four people get cancer at some
point in their lives. Until the mid-20th
century, a diagnosis of cancer was in
most cases tantamount to a death sentence. Today, thanks to new treatment
options, two-thirds of patients are still
alive five years after their cancer was
first identified.
Our research and development work
has produced a wide range of treatment
options for patients with both curable
and incurable conditions. Since the
launch of a pioneering breast cancer
medicine in 2006, for example, around
1,000 women in Switzerland with this
form of cancer have been cured. Roche
also offers an innovative treatment
option for patients suffering from an
aggressive form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (DLBCL), a malignant disease of
the lymphatic system. The lives of some
1,000 DLBCL patients in Switzerland
have been saved since this medicine was
launched in 2000.
In incurable patients, modern treatments can slow disease progression
and keep symptoms such as pain under
control. If a cancer cannot be cured,
patients’ treatment should at least
enable them to maintain their quality
of life for as long as possible.
For example, an extended therapy – the
first significant progress after 15 years
of treating the disease – has brought
fresh hope to ovarian cancer patients,
who can continue to participate in
community life in spite of their condition. Holding on to their independence,
keeping on working, sharing in the birth
of a grandchild or spending a holiday
with their family are important experiences which an appropriate treatment
can make possible.
Source: Association of Swiss Cancer Registries statistics
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Innovation means progress
Without research there is no innovation and no medical progress.
We respond to medical questions with innovation that stems from
outstanding scientific achievements. Our highly differentiated
products are adapted as best possible to the needs of patients
and improve the quality, safety and cost-efficiency of healthcare
provision.
“The regulatory authorities
often fast-track the approval
of our highly innovative
products. The work I do
helps to ensure that medical
advances reach our patients
faster.”
Daniela Napoli
(Drug Regulatory Affairs
& Quality Assurance)
Did you know that …
 Roche has seven cancer medicines that improve patients’ chance of survival?
 Roche’s oncology pipeline contains 42 new active ingredients?
 Roche is the largest supplier of medicines to hospitals in the Swiss domestic
market?
 it takes 8 to 12 years to develop a new active ingredient?
(Source: Interpharma, Swiss Pharmaceutical Market, 2011)
 out of 10,000 substances in the lab, only one makes it to the market?
(Source: Interpharma, Swiss Pharmaceutical Market, 2011)
 it takes an investment of CHF 1 billion, 7 million hours of work and 6,587
experiments by 423 researchers to produce one innovative new medicine?
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Innovation means progress
Roche’s activities revolve around the
discovery and development of novel
diagnostic tools and medicines.
This creates significant benefits for
physicians and patients alike in the
prevention, early detection, diagnosis,
treatment and monitoring of diseases.
Developing innovative treatment
options is becoming ever more challenging. Only one molecule in around
10,000 finishes the long and risky road
to approval. Bringing a new medicine
to market requires eight to twelve years
of research and development, primarily
1 000 000 000 CHF investments
7 000 874 hours of work
6 587experiments
423researchers
1medicine
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as a result of stricter requirements for
trials, which make studies longer and
therefore costlier. Consequently, half of
a new medicine’s lifetime on patent has
passed before it even becomes available to patients, which leaves less time
to build the capital to finance ongoing
R&D investments in new molecules.
One measure of the innovative power
of a new treatment is the fast-track
approval process applied to potentially
ground-breaking medicines in order
to get new therapy options to patients
as quickly as possible. In the past four
years, eight innovative Roche products
and indications have been fast-tracked
for approval. This is equivalent to about
one-quarter of all medicines reviewed in
this way and testimony Roche’s strong
innovative capacity.
Patients can only benefit from novel
therapy options if the products are
available. Consequently, we work with
international and local partners to
improve medical care. For example, we
are committed to health education programmes, better preventive healthcare
services and better access to medicines.
We support projects where we can apply
our core competencies and expertise to
contribute to finding more sustainable
solutions.
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Personalised healthcare
In focus
At Roche, personalised healthcare means being able to offer
the right medicine to the right patient at the right time.
Did you know that …
 only about 50% of patients benefit from treatment with conventional,
non-personalised medicines?
“Every patient has the right to
the best possible treatment of
his or her illness, and I work
towards this goal every day.”
Dr Carsten Hofstetter
(Personalised Healthcare Manager)
 Roche’s launch of a skin cancer medicine was the first time it successfully
brought a personalised healthcare product and companion diagnostic test to
market at the same time?
 over 2,500 patients are treated with Roche personalised medicines in Switzerland
each year, thereby benefitting from customised treatment?
 Roche Diagnostics and Roche Pharmaceuticals are collaborating on a total
of 200 personalised healthcare projects?
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Personalised healthcare in focus
On average, out of ten patients undergoing the same treatment, only about half
benefit. The rest experience no effect or
even suffer adverse effects. The nonselective approach of applying the same
treatment to every patient is no longer
an adequate response to today’s needs.
"Personalised healthcare", by contrast,
offers specific therapies that are tailormade for defined patient groups.
In personalised healthcare (PHC),
Roche is pursuing differentiated,
targeted approaches to treatment for
specific patient groups.
The medical advance represented by
personalised healthcare creates clear
added value for patients in terms of
treatment and improved quality of life.
But other stakeholders benefit as well:
• Doctors can reach decisions more
easily and better predict the outcome
of treatment.
“In my view, personalised healthcare will be
• The institutions that bear the cost
of healthcare see more efficient
use of resources and a potential
reduction in additional treatment
and accompanying costs due to
unwanted side effects.
healthcare is extremely important because
• Professional bodies have a better
foundation for developing treatment
guidelines.
the only way to achieve optimal resource
management. For us insurers, personalised
the non-selective approach of making
medicines or technologies available to
patients on an indiscriminate basis, so to
speak, will be unaffordable in the future.
We now have first-class economic analyses
that show that diagnosis-based, optimised
therapies, such as treatments for hepatitis
C or breast and colon cancer, are more
economical, particularly from a healthcare
economics perspective, than traditional
Patient groups
with the same
clinical picture
strategies.”
(Prof. Thomas Szucs, Board Chairman,
Helsana Group, Zurich, Switzerland)
Targeted treatment
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Cutting costs
with effective,
well-tolerated medicines
Innovative medicines normally cost more than existing therapy
options. However, quicker and more effective treatment of
diseases can yield savings in overall healthcare costs.
“Our innovative and
targeted therapies help
patients get better while
simultaneously using
resources more efficiently –
that’s something I’m
proud of.”
Oliver Aben (Director Finance
& Business Partnering)
Did you know that …
 in addition to around CHF 60 billion in direct healthcare costs (2009 figure),
illness costs society at least as much again (an estimated CHF 74 billion) in
indirect costs due to missed work and the cost of caregiving?
(Source: Interpharma, Polynomics, 2011)
 the indirect costs of cancer (60% or CHF 4.6 billion) are proportionately even
higher than the direct costs (40% or CHF 3.1 billion)?
(Source: Interpharma, Polynomics, 2011)
 in the next ten years, innovative medicines will generate approximately
CHF 17 billion in savings in direct healthcare costs alone?
(Source: Swiss Federal Statistical Office, Determinants of Healthcare Costs, 2008)
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Cutting costs with effective, well-tolerated medicines
Prescribing the right medicine at the
right time and at the proper dosage can
relieve the severest consequences of
illness. Hospital stays can be shortened
or even avoided altogether. Patients can
get back to work sooner and experience
a lower loss of earnings as a result of
illness. These social and economic
benefits extend far beyond the
efficacy of the product itself. Innovative
medicines help reduce total healthcare
costs in the long term by making the
treatment of disease quicker and more
effective.
Chronic lymphoma patients are one
example from the field of cancer
therapy. These patients’ conditions
improved so rapidly after they received
an innovative lymphoma treatment that
they were able to continue working.
“General access to new, innovative treatment methods is not, as is often falsely
asserted, the cause of the sharp increase
in healthcare costs. If an expensive treatment reduces costs at a later stage, it can
be a good investment when measured over
the entire treatment cycle. Price in and of
itself is an insufficient basis for assessing
the efficiency of a treatment. At the bottom
line, an expensive treatment that gets the
patient back to work sooner may be more
economical than a cheaper therapy with a
Traditional
medicines
much longer convalescence period.”
(Source: Economiesuisse, Towards a New Swiss
Healthcare Policy: Guidelines of the Economy, 2011)
Innovative
medicines
Direct healthcare costs
(CHF 60 billion)
Direct cost saving:
Quicker improvement in condition and recovery
& reduced pain and suffering
Indirect healthcare
costs (CHF 74 billion)
Indirect cost saving:
reduced absence from work and caregiving costs
Source: Interpharma, Polynomics, 2011
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Making a mark
improving lives
Astonishing advances have been made in medicine in the past
50 years, resulting in significant improvements in the options for
treating disease.
People not only live longer, but also stay
healthier as they grow older. Because
patients receive better treatment and
return to health sooner, they can also
get back to work earlier.
“I’m glad to be part of a
company that is committed
to medical progress and a
better life for patients.”
Dr Pia Ballschmieter
(Strategic Account Manager)
Particularly in times of economic
turbulence, the pharmaceutical
industry has a balancing effect on
the Swiss economy and national
prosperity.
Did you know that …
 the pharmaceutical industry is estimated to be contributing around 40% to the
increase in life expectancy thanks to innovative medicines (+2.5 years between
1970 and 2001)?
(Source: Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, 2011)
 Roche is the only company to have introduced seven cancer treatments in
Switzerland capable of improving patients' chances of survival?
 Roche exports in the past three years are equal to Switzerland’s total annual
healthcare costs (approx. CHF 60 billion)?
(Source: Interpharma brochure: "The Swiss Pharmaceutical Market", 2011)
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Roche in Switzerland –
Key facts in brief
A strong commitment to R&D
CHF 2 billion in R&D investments
25% of Roche’s worldwide R&D
expenditure: doing R&D in Switzerland
is a high priority for Roche, with daily
investment of over CHF 5 million in Basel
3,500 research staff members
Roche is one of the three leading
research institutions in Switzerland
Successful innovation track record
7 approved cancer medicines yielding
improved survival rates
The only company with 7 cancer
medicines that improve patients’ chance
of survival
>100 trials conducted with some
1,900 patients (since 2000) Many trials are successfully placed in
Switzerland – doctors and patients
have access to new treatments
8 medicines and indications fast-tracked Reflects Roche’s strong innovative
for approval in the past 4 years
capacity. Fast-track approval is granted
to highly innovative medicines in order
to give patients faster access to new
treatments
A dependable driver of the economy (2011)
>CHF 500 m in sales
1% of Roche global sales
CHF 20,000 m in exports
Roche accounts for 11% of total
Swiss exports
Major employer and educator
Approx. 40,000 jobs dependent on Roche, Each job at Roche generates more
including 10,940 Roche employees
than 2.5 additional indirect jobs in the
Swiss economy
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380 apprenticeship places
One of Switzerland’s biggest providers of
vocational training – Roche takes a clear
responsibility for the younger generation
231,880 hours of staff training
Roche makes investing in employee
training a top priority
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Roche Pharma (Switzerland) Ltd
4153 Reinach
www.roche-pharma.ch
01/2013