F. Hoffmann–La Roche Ltd. is a
SwissSwitzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 states named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities...
global health-care company that operates worldwide under two divisions:
PharmaceuticalThe pharmaceutical industry develops, produces, and markets drugs licensed for use as medications. Pharmaceutical companies can deal in generic and/or brand medications. They are subject to a variety of laws and regulations regarding the patenting, testing and marketing of drugs.-History:The...
s and
DiagnosticsRoche Diagnostics Division is a subsidiary of Hoffmann-La Roche which manufactures equipment and reagents for research and medical diagnostic applications. Internally, it is organized into five major business areas: Roche Applied Science, Roche Professional Diagnostics, Roche Diabetes Care, Roche...
. Its
holding companyA holding company is a company that owns other companies' outstanding stock. It usually refers to a company which does not produce goods or services itself, rather its only purpose is owning shares of other companies. Holding companies allow the reduction of risk for the owners and can allow the...
,
Roche Holding AG, has shares listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange .
The headquarters are in
BaselBasel is Switzerland's third most populous city . With 830000 inhabitants in the tri-national metropolitan area , Basel is Switzerland's second-largest urban area....
and the company has many sites around the world - including: Nutley, NJ,
Palo Alto, CaliforniaPalo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, USA. It is named after a tree called El Palo Alto...
,
PleasantonPleasanton is a city in Alameda County,California, incorporated in 1894. It is a major suburb in the San Francisco Bay Area located about east of Oakland, and 6 miles west of Livermore. The population in July 2007: 66,544 at the 2000 census...
, Branchburg,
Indianapolis, IndianaIndianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. The United States Census estimated the city's population, excluding the included towns, at 798,382 in 2008...
, and
Florence, South CarolinaFlorence is the largest city in and the county seat of Florence County, South Carolina, United States. This 1997 All-America City finalist, with its historic homes and medical center towers, came together to form a cultural center for the northeastern portion of South Carolina. The city population...
in the US,
Welwyn Garden CityWelwyn Garden City is a town in Hertfordshire, England, the second garden city in England and one of the first new towns ....
and
Burgess HillBurgess Hill is a town and civil parish in the Mid Sussex district of West Sussex, England, close to the border with East Sussex. Located
38 miles south of London,
10 miles north of Brighton and...
in the UK,
MannheimMannheim is a city in Germany. With 327,318 inhabitants it is the second-largest city in the state of Baden-Württemberg after the capital Stuttgart....
and
PenzbergPenzberg is a town in the Weilheim-Schongau district, in Bavaria, Germany. It is located near Munich, and had a population of 16,126 in 2005. A historic coal mining town, Penzberg today is known for its pharmaceutical industries.-History:...
in
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
, and
ShanghaiShanghai is the largest city in China, and one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world, with over 20 million people. Located on China's central eastern coast at the mouth of the Yangtze River, the city is administered as a municipality of the People's Republic of China with province-level...
in
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
.
The company also owns the American biotechnology company
GenentechGenentech Inc., a portmanteau of Genetic Engineering Technology, Inc., is a leading biotechnology corporation, which was founded in 1976 by venture capitalist Robert A. Swanson and biochemist Dr. Herbert Boyer. It is considered to have founded the biotechnology industry. One of its founders, Boyer,...
, which is a wholly owned subsidiary, and the Japanese biotechnology company
Chugai PharmaceuticalsChugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. is a subsidiary drug manufacturer operating in Japan controlled by Hoffmann–La Roche who owns a 52% majority of the company...
.
Roche's revenues during fiscal year 2008 were CHF 45.62 billion.
F. Hoffmann–La Roche Ltd. is a
SwissSwitzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 states named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities...
global health-care company that operates worldwide under two divisions:
PharmaceuticalThe pharmaceutical industry develops, produces, and markets drugs licensed for use as medications. Pharmaceutical companies can deal in generic and/or brand medications. They are subject to a variety of laws and regulations regarding the patenting, testing and marketing of drugs.-History:The...
s and
DiagnosticsRoche Diagnostics Division is a subsidiary of Hoffmann-La Roche which manufactures equipment and reagents for research and medical diagnostic applications. Internally, it is organized into five major business areas: Roche Applied Science, Roche Professional Diagnostics, Roche Diabetes Care, Roche...
. Its
holding companyA holding company is a company that owns other companies' outstanding stock. It usually refers to a company which does not produce goods or services itself, rather its only purpose is owning shares of other companies. Holding companies allow the reduction of risk for the owners and can allow the...
,
Roche Holding AG, has shares listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange .
The headquarters are in
BaselBasel is Switzerland's third most populous city . With 830000 inhabitants in the tri-national metropolitan area , Basel is Switzerland's second-largest urban area....
and the company has many sites around the world - including: Nutley, NJ,
Palo Alto, CaliforniaPalo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, USA. It is named after a tree called El Palo Alto...
,
PleasantonPleasanton is a city in Alameda County,California, incorporated in 1894. It is a major suburb in the San Francisco Bay Area located about east of Oakland, and 6 miles west of Livermore. The population in July 2007: 66,544 at the 2000 census...
, Branchburg,
Indianapolis, IndianaIndianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. The United States Census estimated the city's population, excluding the included towns, at 798,382 in 2008...
, and
Florence, South CarolinaFlorence is the largest city in and the county seat of Florence County, South Carolina, United States. This 1997 All-America City finalist, with its historic homes and medical center towers, came together to form a cultural center for the northeastern portion of South Carolina. The city population...
in the US,
Welwyn Garden CityWelwyn Garden City is a town in Hertfordshire, England, the second garden city in England and one of the first new towns ....
and
Burgess HillBurgess Hill is a town and civil parish in the Mid Sussex district of West Sussex, England, close to the border with East Sussex. Located
38 miles south of London,
10 miles north of Brighton and...
in the UK,
MannheimMannheim is a city in Germany. With 327,318 inhabitants it is the second-largest city in the state of Baden-Württemberg after the capital Stuttgart....
and
PenzbergPenzberg is a town in the Weilheim-Schongau district, in Bavaria, Germany. It is located near Munich, and had a population of 16,126 in 2005. A historic coal mining town, Penzberg today is known for its pharmaceutical industries.-History:...
in
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
, and
ShanghaiShanghai is the largest city in China, and one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world, with over 20 million people. Located on China's central eastern coast at the mouth of the Yangtze River, the city is administered as a municipality of the People's Republic of China with province-level...
in
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
.
The company also owns the American biotechnology company
GenentechGenentech Inc., a portmanteau of Genetic Engineering Technology, Inc., is a leading biotechnology corporation, which was founded in 1976 by venture capitalist Robert A. Swanson and biochemist Dr. Herbert Boyer. It is considered to have founded the biotechnology industry. One of its founders, Boyer,...
, which is a wholly owned subsidiary, and the Japanese biotechnology company
Chugai PharmaceuticalsChugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. is a subsidiary drug manufacturer operating in Japan controlled by Hoffmann–La Roche who owns a 52% majority of the company...
.
Roche's revenues during fiscal year 2008 were CHF 45.62 billion. Descendants of the founding Hoffmann and Oeri families own half of the company. Swiss pharma company
NovartisNovartis International AG is a multinational pharmaceutical company based in Basel, Switzerland, ranking number one in revenues, which accounted over $53 billion in 2008, and number three in sales, which accounted 36.172 billon in 2008. Novartis is one of the largest healthcare companies in the...
owns 33% of the company.
F. Hoffmann–La Roche is a full member of the
European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and AssociationsFounded in 1978 and based in Brussels, the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations or 'EFPIA' represents the research-based pharmaceutical industry operating in Europe...
(EFPIA).
History
Founded in 1896 by
Fritz Hoffmann-La RocheFritz Hoffmann, The founder of Hoffmann-La Roche was born in Basel, Switzerland on 24 October 1868, and died on 18 April 1920. His family were wealthy business people, and provided both employment experience and investment at the beginning of his business career...
, the company was early on known for producing various
vitaminA vitamin is an organic compound required as a nutrient in tiny amounts by an organism. The term 'vitamin' first became popular in the early 1800's as a contraction of the words 'vital' and 'mineral', though the actual meaning of the word has developed somewhat since that time...
preparations and derivatives. In 1934, it became the first company to mass produce synthetic
vitamin CVitamin C or L-ascorbic acid is an essential nutrient for humans, in which it functions as a vitamin. Ascorbate is required for a range of essential metabolic reactions in all animals and plants...
, under the brand name
RedoxonRedoxon is the brand name of the first artificially synthesised Vitamin C to be sold to the public.Initially Redoxon was a property of Roche Pharmaceuticals, in both chewable tablet form and effervescent tablet form....
. In 1957 it introduced the class of
tranquilizerA tranquilizer, or tranquiliser , is a drug that induces tranquillity in an individual.The term "tranquilizer" is imprecise, and is usually qualified, or replaced with more precise terms:...
s known as
benzodiazepineA benzodiazepine is a psychoactive drug whose core chemical structure is the fusion of a benzene ring and a diazepine ring...
s (with Valium and Rohypnol being the best known members). Its
acneAcne vulgaris is a common skin condition, caused by changes in pilosebaceous units, skin structures consisting of a hair follicle and its associated sebaceous gland, via androgen stimulation. It is characterized by noninflammatory follicular papules or comedones and by inflammatory papules,...
drug
isotretinoinIsotretinoin is a medication used for the treatment of moderate to severe acne. It was first developed to be used as a chemotherapy medication for the treatment of brain cancer, pancreatic cancer and more. It is still used in the treatment of these cancers to this day because of its ability to...
, marketed as Accutane and Roaccutane, also used as a form of
chemotherapyChemotherapy, in its most general sense, is the treatment of disease by chemicals especially by killing micro-organisms or cancerous cells. In popular usage, it refers to antineoplastic drugs used to treat cancer or the combination of these drugs into a cytotoxic standardized treatment regimen...
for some cancers, has been linked with a number of severe side effects and remains highly controversial but highly effective at the same time. Roche has also produced various
HIV testHIV tests are used to detect the presence of the human immunodeficiency virus in serum, saliva, or urine. Such tests may detect HIV antibodies, antigens, or RNA.- Terminology :...
s and
antiretroviral drugAntiretroviral drugs are medications for the treatment of infection by retroviruses, primarily HIV. When several such drugs, typically three or four, are taken in combination, the approach is known as highly active antiretroviral therapy, or HAART...
s. It bought the
patentA patent is a set of exclusive rights granted by a state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for a public disclosure of an invention....
s for the
polymerase chain reactionIn molecular biology, the polymerase chain reaction is a technique to amplify a single or few copies of a piece of DNA across several orders of magnitude, generating thousands to millions of copies of a particular DNA sequence...
technique in 1992. It manufactures and sells several
cancerCancer is a class of diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled growth , invasion , and sometimes metastasis...
drugs.
In 1976, an accident at a chemical factory in
SevesoSeveso is an Italian town and comune of 19,872 inhabitants situated in the Province of Milan, in the Region of Lombardy...
,
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
owned by a subsidiary of Roche caused a large dioxin contamination; see
Seveso disasterThe Seveso disaster was an industrial accident that occurred around 12:37 pm July 10, 1976, in a small chemical manufacturing plant approximately 15 km north of Milan in the Lombardy region in Italy...
.
In 1982, the United States arm of the company acquired Biomedical Reference Laboratories for US$163.5 million. That company dated from the late 1960s, and was located in
Burlington, North CarolinaBurlington is a city in Alamance county in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the principal city of the Burlington, North Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Alamance County, in which most of the city is located. The population was 44,917 at the 2000 census...
. That year Hoffmann-La Roche then merged it with all of its laboratories, and incorporated the merged company as Roche Biomedical Laboratories, Inc. in Burlington. By the early 1990s, Roche Biomedical became one of the largest clinical laboratory networks in the United States, with 20 major laboratories and US$600 million in sales.
On April 28, 1995 Hoffmann-La Roche sold Roche Biomedical Laboratories, Inc. to National Health Laboratories Holdings Inc. (which then changed its name to Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings). In 1994, Roche acquired
SyntexLaboratorios Syntex SA was a pharmaceutical company formed in Mexico City in 1944 by Russell Marker to manufacture therapeutic steroids from the Mexican yam...
.
On 12 March 2009 Roche agreed to fully acquire
GenentechGenentech Inc., a portmanteau of Genetic Engineering Technology, Inc., is a leading biotechnology corporation, which was founded in 1976 by venture capitalist Robert A. Swanson and biochemist Dr. Herbert Boyer. It is considered to have founded the biotechnology industry. One of its founders, Boyer,...
, in which it had held a majority stake since 1990, after 8 months of negotiations. As a result of the Genentech acquisition, Roche plans to close its Palo Alto based research facilities to move research to south San Francisco and Nutley campuses Genentech became a wholly-owned
subsidiaryA subsidiary, in business matters, is an entity that is controlled by a separate entity. The controlled entity is called a company, corporation, or limited liability company and in some cases can be a government or state-owned enterprise, and the controlling entity is called its parent...
group of Roche on 25 March 2009.
Creation of the first anti-depressant
In 1956,
IproniazidIproniazid is a hydrazine drug that was previously used as an antidepressant. It is an irreversible and nonselective monoamine oxidase inhibitor . It has been widely discontinued.-History:Iproniazid was the first antidepressant ever marketed...
was accidentally created during an experiment while synthesizing
IsoniazidIsoniazid is an organic compound that is the first-line antituberculosis medication in prevention and treatment. First discovered in 1912 as an inhibitor of the MAO enzyme, it was first used as an antidepressant, but discontinued due to side effects...
. Originally, it had been intended to create a more efficient drug at combatting
TuberculosisTuberculosis is a common and often deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacteria...
.
IproniazidIproniazid is a hydrazine drug that was previously used as an antidepressant. It is an irreversible and nonselective monoamine oxidase inhibitor . It has been widely discontinued.-History:Iproniazid was the first antidepressant ever marketed...
, however, revealed to have its own benefits; some people felt it made them feel happier. It was withdrawn from the market in the early 1960s due to toxic side-effects.
Vitamin price fixing
Stanley AdamsStanley Adams is a former pharmaceutical company executive and corporate whistleblower, whose case was a cause célèbre in the 1970s....
, Roche's World Product Manager in Basel, contacted the
European Economic CommunityThe European Economic Community was an international organisation that existed between 1958 and 1993 which was created to bring about economic integration between Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.It was...
in 1973 with evidence that Roche had been breaking antitrust laws, engaging in
price fixingPrice fixing is an agreement between business competitors to sell the same product or service at the same price. Historically, such a group of businesses in price fixing was referred to as a combination....
and market sharing for vitamins with its competitors. Roche was fined accordingly, but a bungle on the part of the EEC allowed the company to discover that it was Adams who had blown the whistle. He was arrested for unauthorised disclosure — an offence under Swiss law — and imprisoned. His wife, having learnt that he might face decades in jail, committed suicide. Adams was released soon after but arrested again more than once before eventually fleeing to Britain, where he wrote a book about the affair,
Roche Versus Adams (London, 1984, ISBN 022402180X).
In 1999 Roche was the worldwide market leader in vitamins, with a market share of 40%. Between 1990 and 1999, the company continued to participate in an illegal price fixing cartel for vitamins, which also included
BASFBASF SE is a German chemical company and the largest chemical company in the world. BASF originally stood for Badische Anilin- und Soda-Fabrik . Today, the four letters are a registered trademark and the company is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, London Stock Exchange, and Zurich Stock...
and Rhone-Poulenc SA. In 1999, Roche pleaded guilty in the United States and paid a US$500 million fine, then the largest fine ever secured in the U.S. The
European CommissionThe European Commission acts as an executive of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union.The Commission operates in the method of cabinet government, with 27...
fined Roche
€The euro is the official currency of 16 of the 27 Member States of the European Union . The states, known collectively as the Eurozone, are Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain...
462 million for the same infraction in 2001, also a record fine at the time.
Roche sold its vitamin business in late 2002 to the Dutch group
DSMDSM is a multinational company specialized in Life Sciences and Materials Sciences. Its headquarters are in Heerlen, the Netherlands...
.
Products
Drugs produced by Roche include Xenical, Valium, Roaccutane, Zenapax, Valcyte, Bactrim, Tarceva, CellCept,
BonvivaIbandronic acid or ibandronate sodium , marketed under the trade names Boniva, Bondronat and Bonviva, is a potent bisphosphonate drug used in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis....
, Xeloda and Tamiflu.
Alleged Tamiflu monopoly
In a recent meeting of regional health ministers, Dr. Francisco J. Duque III, Secretary of the
PhilippinesThe Philippines officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
Department of Health, accused Roche of "monopolizing" the production and distribution of the drug known as
OseltamivirOseltamivir is an antiviral drug that slows the spread of influenza virus between cells in the body by stopping the new virus from chemically cutting ties with its host cell. The drug is sold under the trade name Tamiflu and is taken orally in capsules or a suspension...
(brand name Tamiflu). Oseltamivir is considered to be the primary antiviral drug used to combat avian influenza, commonly known as the
bird fluInfluenza A virus subtype H5N1, also known as "bird flu", A or simply H5N1, is a subtype of the Influenza A virus which can cause illness in humans and many other animal species...
. Roche is the only drug company authorized to manufacture the drug, which was discovered by
Gilead SciencesGilead Sciences is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and commercializes therapeutics. For many years since the company was founded, the company concentrated primarily on antiviral drugs to treat patients infected with HIV, hepatitis B or influenza. In 2006, Gilead acquired two...
. Roche purchased the rights to the drug in 1996 and in 2005 settled a royalty dispute, agreeing to pay Gilead tiered royalties of 14-22% of annual net sales.
The Philippine health secretary complained that the supply of the said drug is only concentrated in
First WorldThe terms First World, Second World, and Third World were used to divide nations into three broad categories. The three terms did not arise simultaneously. After World War II, people began to speak of the NATO and Warsaw Pact countries as two major blocs, often using such terms as the "Western...
countries even if the disease is ravaging bird and poultry populations in Southeast Asia as of this time. Dr. Duque proposed that even if Roche is the only one who has the patent for the drug, special patents or licenses should be granted to other drug companies to manufacture the drug and make it more accessible to avian flu-vulnerable countries in
Southeast AsiaManila
Bangkok
Ho Chi Minh City
Kuala Lumpur
Singapore
Yangon
Bandung
Hanoi
Surabaya
Taichung
Kaohsiung
Medan|-|}...
such as
VietnamVietnam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam , is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east...
,
IndonesiaThe Republic of Indonesia is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia comprises 17,508 islands. With an estimated population of around 237 million people, it is the world's fourth most populous country, with the world's largest population of Muslims.Indonesia is a republic, with an...
,
CambodiaThe Kingdom of Cambodia , formerly known as Kampuchea , is a country in South East Asia with a population of over 14 million people. The kingdom's capital and largest city is Phnom Penh...
and the
PhilippinesThe Philippines officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
. Duque and Philippine president
Gloria Macapagal ArroyoMaria Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is the fourteenth and current president of the Philippines. Arroyo is the country's second female president, and the daughter of late former Philippine President Diosdado Macapagal....
have already communicated with the representative of the
World Health OrganizationThe World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health...
in the Philippines asking for assistance in calling for greater production and distribution of Oseltamivir.
World leaders, such as former UN Secretary General
Kofi AnnanKofi Atta Annan, Honorary GCMG is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1 January 1997 to 1 January 2007. Annan and the United Nations were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize.-Early years and family:Kofi Annan was born in the...
, have expressed a desire to have more generic versions of Tamiflu made, especially for
Third WorldThe term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned or neutral with either capitalism and NATO or communism and the Soviet Union...
countries too poor to buy the brand name drug.
On 20 October 2005, Hoffmann-La Roche decided to license other companies to manufacture Oseltamivir.
Collaborative research
In addition to internal research and development activities F. Hoffmann–La Roche is also involved in publicly funded collaborative research projects, with other industrial and academic partners. One example in the area of
non-clinicalPre-clinical development is a stage of research that begins before clinical trials can begin, and during which important feasibility, iterative testing and safety data is collected....
safety assessment is the
InnoMed PredToxInnoMed PredTox is a joint Industry and European Commission collaboration to improve drug safety. The consortium is composed of 15 research groups from 12 pharmaceutical companies, three academic institutions and two technology providers....
. The company is expanding its activities in joint research projects within the framework of the
Innovative Medicines InitiativeThe Innovative Medicines Initiative is a European initiative to improve the competitive situation of the European Union in the field of pharmaceutical research...
of EFPIA and the
European CommissionThe European Commission acts as an executive of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union.The Commission operates in the method of cabinet government, with 27...
.
Additional key persons
In addition to corporate executive committee members mentioned in the summary information box
- Chief Financial Officer Dr Erich Hunziker (1953)
- General Counsel and Head of Corporate Services Dr Gottlieb Keller (1954)
Enlarged Corporate Executive Committee
- Head Global Pharma Development Jean Jacques Garaud
- Head of Human Resources Silvia Ayyoubi (1953)
- Head Pharma Partnering Dan Zabrowski
- Head of Pharma Research Lee Babbiss
- Head of Roche Diagnostics' business area Diabetes Care Burkhard G. Piper (1961)
- Head Global Corporate Communications Per-Olof Attinger (1960)
- Head of Commercial Operations Pharma Pascal Soriot (1959)
- President and CEO, Chugai Osamu Nagayama (1947)
External links