Roche Diagnostics Growing At

50% Rate In China

By: China Bio Today Friday, May 14, 2010 3:37 PM

Author's Website

Roche Diagnostics (VX: ROG : 29.66, -0.06) has been experiencing

annual revenue increases of close to 50% per year, and the company
expects the large increases to continue, driven by the PRC's
investment into healthcare. Roche Diagnostics thinks China will soon
become its fifth largest market, up from eighth last year.

Roche Diagnostics currently claims a 20% share of the global in vitro

diagnostics market, which makes it the largest player in the sector
worldwide. It also holds the number one ranking in China. A full 80%
of Roche's IVD products are available in China, and Roche is working
on registering many of the remaining products.

The revelations were made by Daniel O'Day, Chief Operating Officer of

Roche Diagnostics in an interview with Interfax China (see story).

China's program for extending healthcare involves building new

hospitals, which necessitates new immunoassay labs. Immunoassays
are the fastest growing sector in the IVD market, according to O'Day.

"We also see tremendous growth potential in other areas like

molecular diagnostics, particularly in blood screening and infectious
disease monitoring for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)
and human papillomavirus (HPV). Tissue diagnostics will likely see
growth too as cancer care becomes more widely available in China,"
said O'Day.

In the larger Asia-Pacific region, Roche claims a 21% market share in

IVD product. The numbers represent an impressive level of revenue:
$924 million in 2009, a 25% increase in constant-currency terms.
Worldwide, the company's diagnostic division produced about $9.1
billion, or 20% of Roche's total revenues. The biggest growth areas
were the Asia-Pacific region and Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

In China, Roche is in the middle of the process of registering its high-

profile tissue diagnostic test for the HER2 gene. If breast or stomach
cancer patients exhibit the gene, they are eligible for treatment with
Herceptin, an antibody treatment.

"As cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancers become more

common in China, we are also seeing an increase in the use of more
medically efficient tests, for instance, Roche Diagnostics' NT-proBNP
test for heart failure," O'Day said. The test is an accurate test of heart
failure, a condition that is often misdiagnosed. The test can also be
used to help a doctor decide if a patient needs to be hospitalized or if a
patient is well enough to be discharged.

In the US, the American Journal of Cardiology completed a study

showing that the NT-proBNP test can reduce the number of cardiac
ultrasound tests by 58% and shorten hospitalizations by 12%.

Roche Diagnostics Shanghai now has more than 700 employees. It has
plans to hire 100 more before the end of this year.

As we reported two weeks ago, Roche's pharmaceutical division is

sticking with its high-end strategy in China, even though China is very
receptive to generic drugs (see story).

Source: http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewarticle/articleid/4122908#