BIG PHARMA EARNINGS WATCH: ROCHE

Roche Tops Wall Street Expectations Following Price Hikes, Executives Acknowledge Biosimilar Competition Works to Lower Prescription Drug Prices

This week, Big Pharma company Roche reported third quarter earnings that beat Wall Street analysts’ expectations, with revenue rising seven percent, following price hikes across the company’s prescription drug portfolio in January and July.

During Roche’s earnings call, an analyst asked whether biosimilar competition would lead to a meaningful hit to revenue for the company’s blockbuster asthma treatment Xolair in 2027. Roche executives noted the first biosimilar competitor to the product had launched with a 15 percent price cut, and said Roche itself was not the one “driving the prices downwards,” a reference to the biosimilar competition being the cause of downward pressure on price, adding, “[w]e are not driving the race to the bottom.”

As the comments from Roche further validate, Congress can help lower drug prices for American consumers by fostering greater competition from more affordable alternatives to high-priced brand name drugs, including biosimilars.

Get a full recap on Roche’s earnings below:

Roche

• Roche saw third quarter earnings that beat Wall Street analysts’ expectations.
• The Big Pharma giant’s third quarter sales came in at $19.57 billion, up from $18.12 billion for the same period last year.
• The company’s multiple sclerosis drug, Ocrevus, saw a sales increase of nine percent to $2.24 billion in the third quarter. 
• Meanwhile the company’s blockbuster asthma treatment Xolair brought in sales of $1.03 billion in the quarter – after the first biosimilar to Xolair entered the market earlier this year.
• Roche’s group revenue came in at $19.61 billion, exceeding a forecast of $19.15 billion.

These strong third quarter earnings follow a number of price increases across the company’s portfolios this year – and in year’s past.

Roche

• So far in 2026, Roche has hiked prices on 34 prescription drugs, including its multiple sclerosis drug Ocrevus by 5.2 percent and asthma treatment Xolair by 5.5 percent.
• Roche increased prices on 32 prescription drugs in 2025, including multiple sclerosis drug Ocrevus by 4.7 percent, macular degeneration drug Vabysmo by 2.5 percent and asthma treatment Xolair by 3.1 percent.
• In 2024, the Big Pharma company increased prices on 31 prescription drugs.
• In 2023, Roche increased prices on at least 19 prescription drugs in its portfolio.
• A report released in late 2019 found that Roche’s price hikes on the popular rheumatoid arthritis drug Rituxan were not supported by innovation or improvements and cost U.S. taxpayers $806 million.

Stay tuned as we continue to monitor third quarter earnings calls from brand name drug companies in the coming weeks.

Read more on third quarter earnings from Johnson & Johnson HERE.

Learn more about solutions to lower prescription drug prices and hold Big Pharma accountable HERE.