Hoffmann-La Roche

Hoffmann-La Roche, Ltd. is a Swiss global health-care company which operates world-wide under two divisions: pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. It belongs to the Roche Holding AG. The headquarters are located in Basel and has additional sites at Welwyn Garden City in the United Kingdom, at Nutley and Palo Alto in the United States and also in Penzberg, Germany.

Roche Holding AG (ticker ROC.S) is listed on the London-based virt-x stock exchange (virt-x is a company of the SWX Swiss Exchange). Roche's revenues during fiscal year 2002 were $9400 million, ranking 13th amongst the pharmaceutical companies of the world.

Founded in 1896 by Fritz Hoffmann-La Roche, the company was early on known for producing various vitamin preparations and derivatives. In 1957 it introduced the class of tranquilizers known as benzodiazepines (with Valium and Rohypnol being the best known members). Its acne drug isotretinoin marketed as Accutane® and Roaccutane® is a market leader in treating severe acne. It has also produced various HIV tests and antiretroviral drugs. It bought the patents for the important polymerase chain reaction technique in 1992. It manufactures several cancer drugs.

In 1976, an accident at a chemical factory in Seveso (Italy) owned by a subsidiary of Roche caused a large dioxin contamination; see Seveso disaster.

Vitamin price-fixing

In 1973, Stanley Adams, Roche's World Product Manager in Basel, contacted the EEC with evidence that Roche had been breaking anti-trust laws, engaging in price-fixing and market sharing with its competitors. Roche was fined accordingly, but unfortunately 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, told 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.

In 1999 Roche was the world-wide market leader in vitamins, with a market share of 40%. Between 1990 and 1999, the company participated in an illegal price fixing cartel for vitamins. Other members of the cartel were BASF and Rhone-Poulenc SA. In 1999, Roche pleaded guilty in the United States and paid a $500 million fine, then the largest fine ever secured in the U.S. The European Commission fined Roche 462 million euros 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 DSM.

Bird flu antidote monopoly

In a recent meeting of regional health ministers, Dr. Francisco Duque III, Secretary of the Philippines Department of Health, accused Roche of "monopolizing" the production and distribution of the drug known as Oseltamivir (brand name Tamiflu). Oseltamivir is considered to be the primary antiviral drug used to combat avian influenza, commonly known as the bird flu. Roche is the only drug company authorized to manufacture the drug, which was discovered by Gilead Sciences. 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 World 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 Asia such as Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia and the Philippines. Duque and Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has already communicated with the representative of the World Health Organization in the Philippines asking for assistance in calling for greater production and distribution of Oseltamivir.

World leaders, such as UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, have expressed a desire to have more generic versions of Tamiflu made, especially for Third World countries too poor to buy the brand name drug.

On October 20, 2005 Hoffmann-La Roche decided they would license other companies to manufacture Oseltamivir.

Additional key persons

In addition to key executives mentioned in the summary information box

Rebecca Taub, Vice President Research, Metabolic Diseases (source: "Obesity Drug Development Summit" conference program, sponsored by the Center for Business Intelligence, held July 2005, Arlington, VA, USA)

Company profiles

Roche Group (Yahoo!)
Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. (Yahoo!)

References

Hoffmann-La Roche | Companies of Switzerland | Multinational companies | Pharmaceutical companies

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Hoffmann-La Roche

Vitamin price-fixing

Bird flu antidote monopoly

Additional key persons

Company profiles

References