Roche Pharmaceuticals China Establishes New China Product Pipeline Strategy Team

Confirmed! Roche Establishes China Product Pipeline Strategy Team

01 Roche Establishes New China Product Pipeline Strategy Team

Regarding recent online reports that Roche China has issued an internal announcement to establish a new China Product Pipeline Strategy Team, with Ms. Chen Xingrong, Head of the Corporate Transformation and Innovation Office, concurrently serving as the team's head, a representative from Roche's Corporate Communications Department has confirmed to Sai Bai Lan that the report is accurate.

Roche stated that the establishment of the China Product Pipeline Strategy Team is primarily aimed at strengthening its overall strategic layout in China, closely collaborating with headquarters and partners across the value chain, and maximizing benefits for patients in China.

In fact, this is not the first time Roche has undergone internal organizational restructuring.

Starting in December 2020, Roche began to break away from its original product-line model in certain regions and eliminate sales targets for some teams.

The company representative told Sai Bailan that last month, Roche announced an evolution of its previous ecosystem by fully implementing a therapeutic area-centric customer engagement model, dismantling the former product-centric business units, and establishing an Oncology Engagement Team and a Specialty Therapies Engagement Team in their place.

This Tuesday, Roche once again announced to all employees the rollout of the PPOC (Therapeutic Area Manager) role on the oncology frontline — responsible for liaising with regional ecosystem partners and facilitating the exchange of information regarding medical affairs, disease education, healthcare policies, and related matters.

There is also another frontline role, “PSM” (Patient Solutions Manager), primarily responsible for driving end-to-end patient management within the designated therapeutic area and region, as well as conducting patient education. Therefore, while organizational restructuring does bring about personnel changes on one hand, more importantly, it shapes new roles and creates new opportunities.

According to publicly available information, Roche has been highly active in recent years, continuously evolving its business model.

In December 2020, Roche internally announced that it would establish two dedicated regions in Guangdong and the Sichuan-Chongqing area to explore a “regional model.” At the same time, within their respective jurisdictions, these two regions would assume full responsibility for other business functions of Roche Pharmaceuticals China, including marketing, sales, medical affairs, regional market access, and other related operations.

02 「"Troika" Faces Headwinds」

Roche's first-half 2021 financial results report shows that its H1 revenue reached CHF 30.7 billion, an 8% increase year-on-year, primarily attributable to 51% growth in the Diagnostics division. Pharmaceuticals revenue stood at CHF 21.6 billion, down 3%, mainly due to the impact of biosimilars and COVID-19; however, this decline was offset by robust growth driven by the launch of new products (i.e., those approved after 2012).

In the 2020 Top 50 Global Pharmaceutical Companies list published by the U.S. magazine *Pharmaceutical Executive*, Roche rose to first place.

When discussing Roche, its "troika" cannot be overlooked. Data from Menet shows that in 2020, although Roche's Bevacizumab Injection, Trastuzumab for Injection, and Rituximab Injection remained among the top 10 brands in key provincial and municipal public hospitals, their sales experienced a significant decline. Specifically, the year-on-year sales declines for both Bevacizumab Injection and Trastuzumab for Injection exceeded 15%, while Rituximab Injection saw a year-on-year drop of over 20%.

In recent years, with the growing momentum of domestic pharmaceutical companies in China, Roche's dominant market position built on its trio of flagship drugs has gradually been broken. As of now, Bevacizumab Injection is manufactured by three companies: Roche, Qilu Pharmaceutical, and Innovent Biologics; Trastuzumab for Injection by two: Roche and Henlius; and Rituximab Injection by three: Roche, Henlius, and Innovent Biologics.

However, Roche's multiple sclerosis drug Ocrevus delivered remarkable performance, with first-half 2021 sales reaching CHF 2.438 billion, a 23% increase, propelling it to become Roche's top-selling product for the period.

Among Roche's strong performance stands another fastest-growing product—emicizumab, primarily indicated for hemophilia, with first-half sales increasing by 45% year-on-year to CHF 1.393 billion. Meanwhile, following approvals for three indications—small cell lung cancer, triple-negative breast cancer, and hepatocellular carcinoma—the PD-L1 monoclonal antibody atezolizumab also saw first-half sales rise by 29%, securing its place among Roche's top 5 products.

According to consensus forecasts from EvaluatePharma, Roche will rank first among all major pharmaceutical companies in 2026 sales, driven by the launch of new products in oncology, multiple sclerosis, and hemophilia.

03 Frequent Strategic Adjustments by Pharmaceutical Companies

Recently, multinational pharmaceutical companies have seen frequent internal restructuring: In August, Eli Lilly announced that Lilly Biomedicines would be divided into two business units, namely Lilly Neuroscience and Lilly Immunology; previously, AstraZeneca also announced the establishment of a Gastrointestinal and Respiratory Nebulization business unit, among others.

Not only are multinational pharmaceutical companies intensifying their strategic layout, but domestic pharmaceutical companies are doing likewise.

In the recently released semi-annual report, Hengrui Pharmaceuticals announced that the company urgently needs to concentrate its resources to achieve rapid breakthroughs in innovation and internationalization, advance operational reforms, and accelerate its transformation and upgrading.

The Ministry of Commerce released the "2020 Statistical Analysis Report on the Operation of the Pharmaceutical Distribution Industry," which pointed out that with the continuous deepening of healthcare system reform, the pharmaceutical distribution industry is accelerating its transformation and upgrading, and the level of market concentration continues to rise.

The reasons for organizational restructuring vary across different pharmaceutical companies. However, in recent years, under the continuous influence of policies in China, focusing on core businesses has become a more effective strategy for enhancing corporate competitiveness. Organizational restructuring is a strategic initiative for pharmaceutical companies, which is sometimes accompanied by personnel turnover. Consequently, medical representatives are currently facing frequent organizational adjustments.

Previously, the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) issued the *Measures for the Record-filing Administration of Medical Representatives*, clarifying the responsibilities and role positioning of medical representatives in the pharmaceutical sector. It emphasizes that medical representatives are professionals who, on behalf of marketing authorization holders, engage in the dissemination, communication, and feedback of drug-related information within the People's Republic of China, rather than sales personnel. The measures further delineate the permissible and prohibited conduct of medical representatives, thereby promoting their development toward greater professionalization.

It is foreseeable that, despite ongoing corporate restructuring and increasing industry consolidation, medical representatives will remain an indispensable position within pharmaceutical companies.