LONDON—The results of a key Alzheimer’s drug trial on Wednesday have reignited decades-old hopes that targeting a particular protein helps arrest the progression of the fatal brain disease, giving a big boost to similar studies being run by Roche and Eli Lilly. Eisai Co Ltd and Biogen Inc said their experimental drug significantly slowed cognitive…

Swiss healthcare company Roche’s single-dose oral tablet, Xofluza, has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) for the treatment of influenza in children aged five years and older, the drugmaker announced on Friday. Xofluza, also known as baloxavir marboxil, was granted approval to treat acute uncomplicated influenza, also known as flu, in otherwise healthy children aged between…

ZURICH—Roche has launched an new dual antigen and antibody diagnostic test for hepatitis C, the Swiss pharmaceuticals company said on Monday, which it says will give an earlier diagnosis of the virus. The Elecsys HCV Duo is the first commercially available immunoassay that allows the simultaneous and independent determination of the hepatitis C virus status…

ZURICH—Roche said on Monday the U.S. Food and Drug administration granted priority review to its Actemra/RoActemra for the treatment of COVID-19 in hospitalized adults. “If approved, Actemra/RoActemra would be the first U.S. FDA-approved immunomodulator for the treatment of COVID-19 in hospitalized patients,” Roche said in a statement, adding that more than 1 million people hospitalized…

ZURICH—Swiss drugs regulator Swissmedic said on Monday it approved Ronapreve, an antibody treatment jointly developed by Roche and Regeneron, to treat COVID-19 patients. “In this procedure, no data on efficacy against the Omicron variant were submitted,” Swissmedic said in a statement. The antibody treatment was already authorized for prescription in Switzerland under COVID-19 Ordinance 3…

Roche said on Friday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to its COVID-19 at-home rapid test that can be used by people as young as 14. The test, which uses an anterior nasal swab sample, is “able to produce accurate, reliable and quick results in as few…

ZURICH—Roche’s newly acquired subsidiary TIB Molbiol has developed three new test kits to help researchers detect mutations in the new Omicron variant of coronavirus, Roche said on Friday. Governments around the world are urgently scouring databases for recent cases of COVID-19 infections, screening travelers, and decoding the viral genomes of the new variant as they…

ZURICH—Roche shareholders voted overwhelmingly on Friday to support the $20.7 billion deal to buy Novartis’s nearly one third voting stake, the Swiss drugmaker said. Roche held an extraordinary general meeting to settle matters related to its plan to disentangle the two pharma companies, both based in Basel, who had been linked by the investment for…

A pill developed by two drugmakers failed to help COVID-19 patients with mild or moderate symptoms, one of the companies announced Tuesday. Atea Pharmaceuticals and Roche tested their experimental treatment in a Phase 2 trial in outpatient settings, or non-hospitalized patients. The study failed to meet the primary endpoint, which was a reduction in the…

ZURICH—Roche plans to cut 300–400 jobs this year at product development (PD) sites, company executives including Chief Medical Officer Levi Garraway said during a recorded video call with employees obtained by Swiss newspaper Blick. “We’ve made the difficult decision to reduce our workforce in PD by around five to seven percent by the end of…