On top of expiring Herceptin patents, Roche faces huge royalty losses in 2019
We all know some of Roche’s most valuable patents are expiring soon, not the least of which is the huge revenue-driver cancer drug Herceptin. But in its latest financial update, Roche outlined a different set of patents that will soon cut hundreds of millions from its balance sheet.
In its mid-year earnings update, Roche warned investors that its “Cabilly” patents — which protect a step in the manufacturing process of cell-based therapies — would expire in December. For the past 35 years, these patents (granted to Roche’s Genentech unit in 1983), have allowed Roche to collect royalties from competitors like AbbVie, which uses the processes to manufacture Humira. That drug sold $18.5 billion last year.
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