Roche Warns Europe Risks Losing Drug Innovation

Roche chief executive Thomas Schinecker says the company will invest only in countries that reward pharmaceutical innovation. As Europe cuts health-care costs, a German reform has prompted Roche to pause investments in Germany. The warning comes as the Swiss drugmaker develops an experimental daily pill to prevent breast-cancer recurrence and looks for new medicines to replenish its pipeline.

Drug Access and Investment

Schinecker said Europe’s approach was leaving patients without access to the newest medicines. “The US and Asia really play to win, and I feel Europe is more and more playing not to lose,” he said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. He added that Roche would “only invest in countries in the future that are also going to reward innovation.”

Roche paused investments in Germany to protest the government’s cost-cutting health-care reform. Germany and other countries “aren’t really investing in growth,” Schinecker said Thursday, echoing criticism from others in the industry. European governments are seeking to cut costs as they address ballooning deficits.

Roche has struck six agreements in China since August. Asia accounted for half of the company’s deals last year, with the remainder in the United States, Schinecker said. Eli Lilly, a U.S. drugmaker, and Germany’s Boehringer Ingelheim have also said they’d cancel some investments in Germany.

The Breast-Cancer Pill

The experimental medicine, giredestrant, aims to prevent breast-cancer recurrence and could one day surpass Roche’s former blockbuster Herceptin, the company says. Roche is also investing in multiple sclerosis and oncology as it seeks to replenish its pipeline and recover in diagnostics while sales of older treatments fade.

In a Bloomberg report published October 22, 2026, Ulrike Isselhard, a mother of three from Bamberg, Germany, said she attributed her recovery to the pill, which she takes each morning. Cancer disrupted her life for close to a year. Surgery to remove a breast and two rounds of chemotherapy left her exhausted, diminished her optimism and caused her to lose her hair.

Now she’s back at full-time work and cycles more than 3 kilometres to her office. “My life is exactly like it was before I got sick,” Isselhard said. “Except that I don’t need to wear a bra anymore.”

Sales and Outlook

Roche reported quarterly sales above expectations on Thursday but left its annual outlook unchanged, disappointing investors who’d hoped for an upgrade. Revenue rose 8% to CHF16.1 billion ($19.7 billion), helped by Xolair, an older asthma and allergy drug facing cheaper competitors. Roche expects Xolair to keep growing next year despite cheaper copies becoming available.

First approved more than 20 years ago, Xolair now helps reduce the risk of dangerous reactions such as anaphylaxis in people with food allergies. Newer blockbusters Vabysmo, an eye drug; Ocrevus, for multiple sclerosis; and Hemlibra, for hemophilia, also gained.

Roche reiterated its forecast for high-single-digit earnings growth and mid-single-digit revenue growth for the year. Michael Leuchten, an analyst at Jefferies, wrote that the decision not to raise guidance “should raise some questions about the growth trajectory into 2027.” Roche shares fell less than 1% in Zurich trading. They’d risen about 19% in the year to Wednesday, more than other large European pharmaceutical companies; Swiss rival Novartis, facing a patent cliff and recent research setbacks, had gained 16% over the same period.