Roche has no plans for job cuts and business is healthy, CEO says

ZURICH (Reuters) – Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche is not planning job cuts and its business is healthy, CEO Thomas Schinecker was quoted as saying by a Swiss newspaper on Sunday.

Roche’s share price has fallen far below peaks it scaled in April 2022 and the CEO was questioned about the company’s staffing plans in the context of recent setbacks in its development of drugs to treat cancer, among other illnesses.

“The number of workers is constant to slightly increasing,” Schinecker told the NZZ am Sonntag in an interview when asked if the company was planning layoffs.

“I can say with certainty that we have a very healthy business. And we don’t have a growth problem either,” he said, while noting that Roche’s budget for research and development was stable and not growing.

Asked when Roche’s planned anti-obesity drug would hit the market, Schinecker said it could be around 2029 or sooner.

Addressing the outlook more broadly for next year, particularly in light of the German economy’s recent struggles, the Roche CEO said Europe still faced challenges.

“There’s some economic growth in the United States, but things are more difficult in China at the moment,” he said. “And in Europe it will take some time before we get out of this.”