Roche pipeline takes stage

March 17, 2010 – 3:05 pm by Michael Christel

Top executives with the Swiss pharma giant, eager to shift attention from a series of recent clinical-trial setbacks, will be in New York City tomorrow for the company’s first investor conference since its buyout of Genentech. They are expected to emphasize the potential created by Roche’s new biotech arm and highlight several promising pipeline drugs, led by Phase III blockbuster candidates dalcetrapib, aleglitazar, and RG1678. 

I will be on hand to tweet the proceedings, which you can follow here. Here’s the agenda from Roche. Of course, still fresh on investors’ minds will be the recent woes with Avastin (failed trials in gastric and prostate cancer) and the suspenion of late-stage trials for rheumatoid arthritis hopeful ocrelizumab. 

Nevertheless, despite the slip-ups and sputtering sales numbers of late, analysts still predict Roche will outpace overall market growth in the coming years, thanks to its top position in cancer, solid patent footing, and diverse late-stage portfolio. 

Plenty has changed at Roche since its last investor summit. Upon the full merger with Genentech, two stand-alone discovery engines have been set up within the new company - Genentech Research and Early Development (gRED) and Pharma Research and Early Development (pRED). Compounds advanced by both units are handled by a unified late-stage organization.

While extolling the benefits of integration, R&D executives with Roche and Genentech have made clear that preserving the innovative cultures of both companies is a top priority going forward. For more, check out this Q&A I did in January to go along with our Top 10 Pipelines coverage.    

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Tags: Avastin, Genentech, pipeline, Roche