ZURICH: Pharma-ceutical giant Roche on Thursday said its first-half profit fell by 7.0 per cent to 5.6 billion Swiss francs (4.6bn euros, $6.2bn), hit by the strength of Switzerland’s currency.

But the company said it remained confident of its 2014 outlook thanks to the solid performance of new drugs, pointing out that without the impact of exchange rates its profits were up 2.0pc.

Sales rose by 5.0pc in local currencies, but were down by 1.0pc in Swiss francs, to 22.9bn francs.

Roche, the world’s market-leader in cancer care, pinned that on the weakening US dollar, the Japanese yen and several Latin American currencies, against the Swiss franc.

The group’s flagship pharmaceutical division saw sales rise by 4.0pc in constant exchange rates, to 17.8bn Swiss francs.

“We had a good first half, driven mainly by our cancer medicines,” said Severin Schwan, chief executive of Roche.

It posted a 20pc increase in sales of treatments for breast cancer – including Herceptin, a star of its portfolio, and new drugs Perjeta and Kadcyla.

Another top performer was leukaemia drug Gazyva, which turned over 18 million Swiss francs.

Roche has forecast sales growth this year of between 1.0-5.0pc.

Published in Dawn, July 25th , 2014