Roche has no plans to cut jobs and the business is healthy, the CEO told Reuters

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

Roche’s share price has fallen well below the peaks it reached in April 2022 and the CEO was asked about the company’s workforce plans in the context of recent problems in its development of drugs to treat cancer, among other diseases.

“The number of employees keeps growing,” Schinecker told NZZ am Sonntag in an interview when he was asked if the company was planning layoffs.

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

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

Speaking about the broad outlook for next year, especially due to the recent problems of the German economy, the CEO of Roche said that Europe still faces challenges.

“There is economic growth in the United States, but things are very difficult in China right now,” he said. “And in Europe it will take time before we get out of this.”