aktiengesellschaft traded as six rog otcqx rhhby industry pharmaceuticals founded 1896 ; 120 years ago 1896 founder fritz hoffmann la roche headquarters basel switzerland key people christoph franz chairman of the board severin schwan ceo daniel o day coo pharmaceuticals roland diggelmann coo diagnostics products pharmaceuticals and diagnostics list of products revenue 47.462 billion swiss francs chf 2014 1 operating income chf 14.090 billion 2014 profit chf 9.535 billion 2014 1 total assets chf 47.272 billion 2014 1 total equity chf 21.558 billion 2014 1 number of employees 88 509 2014 1 subsidiaries genentech ventana website www.roche.com the roche tower headquarters of hoffmann la roche in basel 2015 . f. hoffmann la roche ag is a swiss multinational health care company that operates worldwide under two divisions pharmaceuticals and diagnostics . its holding company roche holding ag has bearer shares listed on the six swiss exchange . the company headquarters are located in basel and the company has many pharmaceutical and diagnostic sites around the world including clarecastle in ireland ; welwyn garden city ; burgess hill in the uk and tucson az ; pleasanton ca ; vacaville california ; oceanside california ; branchburg nj ; indianapolis indiana ; florence south carolina and ponce puerto rico in the us ; mannheim and penzberg in germany ; mississauga and laval in canada ; shanghai in china ; mumbai & hyderabad in india ; s o paulo and rio de janeiro brazil ; segrate milan in italy ; johannesburg in south africa ; karachi islamabad and lahore in pakistan . there are 26 manufacturing sites worldwide . the company controls the american biotechnology company genentech which is a wholly owned affiliate and the japanese biotechnology company chugai pharmaceuticals as well as the tucson arizona based ventana . roche s revenues during fiscal year 2014 were 47.46 billion swiss francs 1 or approximately us 48 billion . roche is the third largest pharma company worldwide . 2 descendants of the founding hoffmann and oeri families own slightly over half of the bearer shares with voting rights a pool of family shareholders 45 % and maja oeri a further 5 % apart with swiss pharma firm novartis owning a further third of its shares . roche is one of the few companies increasing their dividend every year for 2013 as the 27th consecutive year . 3 f. hoffmann la roche is a full member of the european federation of pharmaceutical industries and associations efpia . 4 contents 1 history 1.1 acquisition history 2 products 3 price fixing conspiracy 4 collaborative research 5 bibliography 6 see also 7 notes and references 8 external links history edit founded in 1896 by fritz hoffmann la roche the company was early on known for producing various vitamin preparations and derivatives . in 1934 it became the first company to mass produce synthetic vitamin c under the brand name redoxon . in 1957 it introduced the class of tranquilizers known as benzodiazepines with valium and rohypnol being the best known members . it manufactures and sells several cancer drugs and is a leader in this field . in 1956 the first antidepressant iproniazid was accidentally created during an experiment while synthesizing isoniazid . originally it had been intended to create a more efficient drug at combatting tuberculosis . iproniazid however revealed to have its own benefits ; some people felt it made them feel happier . it was withdrawn from the market in the early 1960s due to toxic side effects . in 1976 an accident at a chemical factory in seveso italy owned by a subsidiary of roche caused a large dioxin contamination ; see seveso disaster . in 1982 the united states arm of the company acquired biomedical reference laboratories for us 163.5 million . that company dated from the late 1960s and was located in burlington north carolina . that year hoffmann la roche then merged it with all of its laboratories and incorporated the merged company as roche biomedical laboratories inc. in burlington . by the early 1990s roche biomedical became one of the largest clinical laboratory networks in the united states with 20 major laboratories and us 600 million in sales . 5 roche has also produced various hiv tests and antiretroviral drugs . it bought the patents for the polymerase chain reaction pcr technique in 1992 . in 1995 the era of highly active anti retroviral therapy haart was initiated by the united states fda s approval of hoffman laroche s hiv protease inhibitor saquinavir . within 2 years of its approval and that of ritonavir 4 months later annual deaths from aids in the united states fell from over 50 000 to approximately 18 000 6 on 28 april 1995 hoffmann la roche sold roche biomedical laboratories inc. to national health laboratories holdings inc. which then changed its name to laboratory corporation of america holdings . 7 roche acquired syntex in 1994 and chugai pharmaceuticals in 2002 . oseltamivir is considered to be the primary antiviral drug used to combat avian influenza commonly known as the bird flu . roche is the only drug company authorized to manufacture the drug which was discovered by gilead sciences . roche purchased the rights to the drug in 1996 and in 2005 settled a royalty dispute agreeing to pay gilead tiered royalties of 14 22 % of annual net sales without adjusting the payments for manufacturing costs as had been allowedin the original licensing agreement . 8 on 20 october 2005 hoffmann la roche decided to license other companies to manufacture oseltamivir . 9 also in 2005 roche acquired the swiss company glycart biotechnology in order to acquire technology to afucosylate antibodies ; one of its products in development was obinutuzumab which gained fda approval in november 2013 for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia . 10 11 12 on 22 january 2008 roche acquired ventana medical systems for 3.4 billion . 13 on 2 january 2009 roche acquired memory pharmaceuticals corp. 14 on 26 march roche acquired genentech for 46.8 billion . 15 on 12 march 2009 roche agreed to fully acquire genentech in which it had held a majority stake since 1990 16 after 8 months of negotiations . as a result of the genentech acquisition roche closed its palo alto based research facilities and moved them to their campus that straddles the border between clifton new jersey and nutley new jersey while roche s united states headquarters located on the site since 1929 was moved to genentech s facility in south san francisco . 17 genentech became a wholly owned subsidiary group of roche on 25 march 2009 . 18 on 13 april roche acquired medingo ltd. for 160 million . 19 on 23 august 2010 roche acquired bioimagene inc. for 100 million . 20 in 2011 the company received the ispe facility of the year award for process innovation for roche s mydose clinical supply project . 21 on 15 march roche acquired pvt probenverteiltechnik gmbh for up to 85 million eur . 22 on 19 july roche acquired mtm laboratories ag for up to 190 million eur . 23 on 17 october roche acquired anadys pharmaceuticals inc. for 230 million . 24 on 26 june 2012 roche announced the closure of the nutley clifton campus which was completed in 2013 . the property is in the process of remediation . 25 on 2 july 2013 roche diagnostics acquired blood diagnostics company constitution medical inc. for 220 million . 26 on 7 april 2014 roche announced its intention to acquire iquum for up to 450 million 27 as well as the rights to an experimental drug ory 1001 from spanish company oryzon genomics for 21 million and up to 500 million in milestone payments . 28 on 2 june roche announced its intention to acquire genia technologies inc. for up to 350 million . 29 in august 2014 the company agreed to purchase californian based pharmaceutical firm intermune for 8.3 billion at 74 a share this represents a 38 % premium over the final share closing price . 30 31 32 in december 2014 the company acquired next generation sequencing processing company bina technologies for an undisclosed sum . 33 on 16 january 2015 the company announced that they would acquire trophos for 470 million 543 million in order to increase the companies neuromuscular disease presence . the deal will centre on the phase ii and iii spinal muscular atrophy drug olesoxime tro19622 . 34 in august the company announced its intention to acquire geneweave for up to 425 million in order to strengthen its microbial diagnostics business . 35 days later the company acquired kapa biosystems focussing on next generation sequencing and polymerase chain reaction applications . 36 in october 2015 the company acquired adheron therapeutics for 105 million plus up to 475 million in milestone payments . 37 in january 2016 the company announced it would acquire tensha therapeutics for 115 million upfront with 420 million in contingent payments . 38 acquisition history edit the following is an illustration of the company s major mergers and acquisitions and historical predecessors this is not a comprehensive list roche hoffmann la roche founded 1896 by fritz hoffmann la roche biomedical reference laboratories acq 1982 restructured into roche biomedical laboratories inc in 1982 syntex acq 1994 allergan plc acq 1996 warner chilcott acq 1999 roche biomedical laboratories inc sold of 1995 chugai pharmaceuticals acq 2002 454 life sciences acq 2007 ventana medical systems acq 2009 part of roche diagnostics spring bioscience corp acq 2007 memory pharmaceuticals corp acq 2009 genentech acq 2009 seragon acq 2014 tanox inc acq 2006 genentech canada 39 acq 1990 medingo ltd acq 2010 bioimagene inc. acq 2010 pvt probenverteiltechnik gmbh acq 2010 mtm laboratories ag acq 2010 anadys pharmaceuticals inc. acq 2010 constitution medical inc. acq 2012 iquum acq 2014 genia technologies inc. acq 2014 intermune acq 2014 bina technologies acq 2014 ariosa diagnostics acq 2014 trophos acq 2015 geneweave acq 2015 kapa biosystems acq 2015 adheron therapeutics acq 2015 products edit drugs produced by roche include accutane roaccutane isotretinoin for severe nodular acne vulgaris no longer sold 40 actemra roactemra tocilizumab for rheumatoid arthritis anexate flumazenil for the reversal of acute benzodiazepine effects avastin bevacizumab for certain malignant tumors aurorix moclobemide for depression bactrim trimethoprim sulfamethoxazole a sulphonamide antibacterial boniva bonviva ibandronic acid for the treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women camleed enprostil for gastric ulcer prevention cardene nicardipine for treatment of stable angina pectoris cellcept mycophenolate mofetil for transplant rejection cymevene ganciclovir for cytomegalovirus infection dilatrend carvedilol for hypertension and congestive heart failure dalmane dalmadorm flurazepam for insomnia dormicum midazolam for insomnia and procedural sedation and analgesia erivedge vismodegib for basal cell carcinoma esbriet for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis fansidar sulfadoxine pyrimethamine for malaria and toxoplasmosis fuzeon enfuvirtide for salvage therapy of hiv 1 infection herceptin trastuzumab for her 2 positive breast cancer inhibace cilazapril for hypertension and congestive heart failure invirase saquinavir for hiv 1 infection klonopin rivotril clonazepam for epilepsy and anxiety disorders kytril granisetron for chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting lariam mefloquine for malaria both prevention and treatment lexotanil bromazepam for anxiety disorders mabthera rituximab for b cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia and other hematological malignancies non hodgkin lymphomas and rheumatoid arthritis madopar prolopa levodopa benserazide for parkinson s disease mircera methoxy polyethylene glycol epoetin beta for anaemia associated with chronic kidney disease naprosyn naproxen an nsaid used for pain relief and arthritis treatment neulastim pegfilgrastim for neutropenia neupogen filgrastim for neutropenia pegasys peginterferon alfa 2a for hepatitis b and c pulmozyme dornase alfa for the improvement of pulmonary function in cystic fibrosis soriatane neotigason acitretin for psoriasis recormon neorecormon epoetin beta for anemia rocaltrol calcitriol for osteoporosis and hypocalcaemia rocephin ceftriaxone a broad spectrum cephalosporin antibiotic roferon a interferon alfa 2a for some hematological malignancies hairy cell leukemia chronic myelogenous leukemia certain solid tumors including kaposi s sarcoma genital warts and chronic hepatitis c rohypnol flunitrazepam for severe insomnia tamiflu oseltamivir for influenza