Looking ahead to fiscal 2018, Roche confirmed its outlook for higher results at constant exchange rates. The company also said it expects to further increase its dividend in Swiss francs.

Roche CEO Severin Schwan said, "The uptake of our new medicines continued to be strong in the third quarter. I am also very pleased that following the recent additional FDA approval, Hemlibra is now broadly available in the U.S. for people with haemophilia A. Based on the performance in the first nine months of the year, we will achieve our full-year targets."

Group sales for the nine month-period increased 7 percent to 42.08 billion Swiss francs from last year's 39.43 billion francs.

Pharmaceuticals Division sales grew 7 percent from last year to 32.70 billion francs, driven mainly by the recently launched medicines Ocrevus and cancer medicines Parjeta, Alecensa and Tecentriq. This was partially offset by lower sales of MabThera/Rituxan and Tarceva.

Pharmaceuticals sales in the United States increased 13 percent to 17.19 billion francs, in Japan grew 1 percent and international sales increased 5 percent.

Meanwhile, sales in Europe fell 2 percent as declining sales of MabThera/Rituxan and Herceptin offset strong launches of new medicines Ocrevus, Tecentriq and Alecensa.

Diagnostics Division sales were 9.38 billion francs, a growth of 7 percent on a reported basis and 6 percent at constant exchange rates. Centralised and Point of Care Solutions was the main contributor, led by the growth of its immunodiagnostics business.

Diagnostics sales increased in all business areas and all regions. Sales increased 13 percent in Asia-Pacific, 6 percent in North America, 2 percent in EMEA, 8 percent in Latin America and 3 percent in Japan.

Looking ahead to fiscal 2018, Roche continues to expect sales to grow mid-single digit and core earnings per share to grow in the mid-teen digits, both at constant exchange rates.

Excluding the U.S. tax reform impact, core earnings per share are targeted to grow broadly in line with sales. ■