Roche lifts 2024 profit guidance on strong drug sales
First-half operating profit growth beats analyst estimates
Revenue from eye drug Vabysmo nearly doubles, beats estimates
Expects close to 10% adjusted profit growth, up vs previous
Shares traded near 1-year high earlier on Thursday
Adds details on eye drug in paragraphs 5 and 7, details on CEO's strategy in last two paragraphs
By Ludwig Burger
FRANKFURT, July 25 (Reuters) -Roche ROG.S on Thursday raised its full-year earnings forecast after exceeding expectations for the first half, driven by strong demand for newer drugs such as eye medicine Vabysmo.
The Swiss drugmaker said it expects growth in adjusted earnings in the "high single-digit range", excluding the effect of currency swings and resolution of tax disputes in 2023, up from previous estimates of "mid single-digit" percentage growth.
Shares were up 2.4% in morning trading, after earlier rising as much as 4% to a one-year high.
First-half adjusted operating profit gained 4% to 11.3 billion Swiss francs ($12.8 billion), the family-controlled drugmaker said on Thursday, beating analysts' consensus estimate of 10.5 billion, based on LSEG data.
Revenue from Vabysmo, used to treat a common form of blindness in the elderly, almost doubled to 1.8 billion francs, beating market expectations.
Its European peers AstraZeneca AZN.L and Sanofi SASY.PA also raised their profit forecasts on Thursday, helped by strong growth of key drugs.
"There is no slowing down at all in the momentum that we see with Vabysmo," CEO Thomas Schinecker said in a media call.
A factor setting Vabysmo apart in its use for the disease known as wet macular degeneration was its ability to reduce fluid leaking into the back of the eye, he said.
Roche competes with Bayer BAYGn.DE and partner Regeneron REGN.O and their more established eye drug Eylea.
Breast cancer drug Phesgo, with sales up 60% at almost 800 million francs, also beat market expectations.
CEO Schinecker is pursuing a variety of therapeutic fields to offset falling oncology sales, setting a high deal pace.
The group suffered major drug trial setbacks in Alzheimer's and cancer immunotherapy in 2022.
Schinecker said he had cut 25% of the group's drug development pipeline to focus on the most promising projects since he took the helm last year.
($1 = 0.8830 Swiss francs)
Reporting by Ludwig Burger; Editing by Miranda Murray and Bernadette Baum
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