By Ludwig Burger

(Reuters] – Roche, a Swiss drugmaker, has said its sales growth would be slower this year due to lower demand for COVID-19 drugs and diagnostics.

On Thursday’s earnings report, the company stated that it expected currency-adjusted revenue for 2022 to either flatten or grow in low single digits. It was below last year’s 9% gain. The reason for this is it believes there will be less demand for COVID-19 drugs and diagnostics.

Roche stated that it expects COVID-19 sales to fall by approximately 2 billion Swiss Francs ($2.17 trillion) to 5 billion.

The company saw its earnings rise in 2021 due to a strong demand for COVID diagnostic instruments and prescriptions for new drugs like Hemlibra, which is used against haemophilia, and Tecentriq. This offset a decline in sales of older cancer drugs.

Refinitiv’s Smart Estimate Analyst Poll found that core operating profit (or earnings before tax) increased by 2% to 21.9 million Swiss francs ($23.82 trillion).

It suggested raising the dividend to 9.30 Swiss Francs per Share.

Core earnings per share are expected to rise in the low to middle-single digits at constant exchange rates. This includes the positive effect of recent shares repurchased by Novartis.

It was discovered that the Omicron-resistant Ronapreve COVID-19 antibody treatment it had developed in partnership with Regeneron (NASDAQ) was no longer neutralizing.

($1 = 0.9204 Swiss francs)