Roche to continue increasing patients access to medicine

KUALA LUMPUR, July 10 (Bernama) – Roche Malaysia Sdn Bhd will continue collaborating with both the public and private sectors to provide solutions, as well as increase patients access to medicines and treatments, especially for cancer.

General Manager Lance Duan said as a leader in cancer treatment, such collaboration is important to increase awareness, as well as treatment for patients.

"Breast cancer has the highest incident rate in Malaysia, and 50 per cent of deaths are avoidable with access to optimum treatment,” he told Bernama today.

It was recently reported that the Swiss drug maker had conducted clinical trials on its latest cancer treatment medication.

Its immunotherapy medication plus the chemotherapy drug Abraxane, significantly reduced the risk of worsening or death in people with metastatic triple negative breast cancer.

Duan also said as of the second half of this year, Roche had nine running tenders with Malaysia’s Ministry of Health from the 16 products listed in the Malaysian Drug Fomulary.


However, he did not reveal the amount secured in contracts.

Based on patients demand for Roche’s medication, the company is positive that growth will increase further for the rest of this year.

Roche holds 34 per cent of the oncology market share which stood at RM363 million last year, and for the overall pharmaceutical market, it was at RM5.3 billion.

--BERNAMA