F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd

As a research-focused healthcare company, Roche discovers, develops and provides innovative diagnostic and therapeutic products and services that deliver significant benefits to patients and healthcare professionals – from early detection and prevention of diseases to diagnosis, treatment, and treatment monitoring.

Where we've come from

Roche was founded on October 1st, 1896. The founder, Fritz Hoffmann-La Roche, was among the first to recognize that the industrial manufacture of standardized medicines would be a major advance in the fight against disease. From the very beginning, Roche’s visionary founder focused his company on innovation and on establishing an international presence. This multinational presence reinforces our ability to offer our healthcare solutions and to anticipate needs in all regions of the world. Today, Roche employs more than 80,000 people and sells its products in more than 150 countries.

Where we are today

Today Roche ranks among the world’s leading healthcare companies and has two strong core businesses: diagnostics and pharmaceuticals.

Doing now what patients need next

We believe it’s urgent to deliver medical solutions right now – even as we develop innovations for the future. We are passionate about transforming patients’ lives. We are courageous in both decision and action. And we believe that good business means a better world. That is why we come to work each day. We commit ourselves to scientific rigour, unassailable ethics, and access to medical innovations for all. We do this today to build a better tomorrow. We are proud of who we are, what we do, and how we do it. We are many, working as one across functions, across companies, and across the world.

Focusing on Innovation

By innovation we mean the creation and commercialisation of medically differentiated products and services that lead to a tangible improvement to the health, quality and length of patients’ lives. As a research-focused company we exploit the latest discoveries and technologies to develop our products. This is why

• Roche invested more than 8.7 billion Swiss francs in 2013 on research and development.
• Roche continues its longstanding tradition of working in alliances with some of the most forward-looking and technologically advanced companies in the world.
• Roche invests heavily in biotechnology and is the world’s largest biotechnology company.

Where we’re going

Personalised Healthcare

Two patients can have the same diagnosis yet respond in different ways to the same medicine. One patient may be helped by treatment, while the other experiences unwanted side effects without the desired clinical benefit. Some of this variability is due to genetic and other biological differences between patients. The idea of personalised healthcare is to use insights into these differences at the molecular level to develop treatments and tests tailored to the needs of specific patient populations. This has enormous potential to make healthcare better, safer and more cost-effective. It will be a while before this potential is fully realised, but the market is clearly shifting away from ‘one size fits all’ products. Roche is a driving force behind this trend and already has several personalised healthcare products on the market. One important aspect of personalising medicine is the close interaction between pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. The fact that we are leaders in both these areas is a source of competitive advantage when it comes to meeting the healthcare challenges of the future.