Roche Holding AG, the Switzerland-based pharmaceutical company, came away with an 8% higher profit than last year, the equivalent to $9.7 billion, according to WSJ. And even though there will be cheaper alternatives to their cancer drugs available next year, the company plans to release a new line to keep their profits high.
Trump's putting pressure on drug companies to lower their prices, but Roche isn't worried for these reasons:
- They already offer cheaper versions of their drugs, which has saved them from suffering as much as other pharmaceutical companies.
- CEO Severin Schwan sees the company's drugs as "true innovation," because they are difficult to replicate or replace with other companies' drugs.
- He says he already invests "over-proportionally" in the U.S., employing more than 25,000 people, and the U.S. benefits a lot from the industry. (Roche also makes almost half of its revenue in from the U.S.)
Why it matters: This is a good early indication of how the biggest international drug makers are reacting to Trump's latest comments on drug prices.