Sigma-Aldrich signs agreement to distribute Roche's biochemical reagents product portfolio

Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, a leading life science and technology company, has signed an exclusive global distribution agreement with Roche. The agreement pairs Roche's high-quality biochemical reagents product portfolio with the industry-leading eCommerce and supply chain capabilities of Sigma-Aldrich.

Under the agreement, Sigma-Aldrich will employ its sales, marketing and eCommerce expertise, and leverage the strength of its relationships with the scientific community, to present and distribute the Roche biochemical reagents product portfolio, which includes kits and enzymes for cellular analysis, proteomics and conventional PCR applications.

"Sigma-Aldrich is excited to offer the global scientific community access to Roche's leading portfolio of scientific tools and reagents. The addition of these life science tools supports our strategy to augment our portfolio with products that accelerate customer scientific research programs," said Eric Green, executive vice president and president, Sigma-Aldrich Research. "We look forward to working with Roche in this relationship."

"This agreement allows us to provide more customers with access to high-quality Roche biochemical reagent products through Sigma-Aldrich's expanded eCommerce and distribution networks," said Paul Brown, head of Roche Molecular Diagnostics. "In addition, this will provide us the flexibility to devote more resources to our primary focus areas."

Transition of the Roche portfolio to Sigma-Aldrich is expected to take place in 2015. In the interim, these products will continue to be available through existing Roche channels.

Genia Technologies for US$ 350 mn

Roche, a leader in research-focused healthcare with combined strengths in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics, announced the acquisition of Genia Technologies, Inc. (Genia), a privately held company, based in Mountain View, California, USA. Genia is developing a single-molecule, semiconductor based, DNA sequencing platform using nanopore technology.







Under the terms of the agreement, Roche will pay Genia’s shareholders USD 125 million in cash. In addition to this payment from Roche, Genia’s shareholders may receive up to USD 225 million in contingent payments depending on the achievement of certain milestones. Genia’s proprietary technology is expected to reduce the price of sequencing while increasing speed and sensitivity.

Roche with good start in 2014

Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is a leader in research-focused healthcare with combined strengths in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Roche is the world's largest biotech company, with truly differentiated medicines in oncology, immunology, infectious diseases, ophthalmology and neuroscience. 

Group sales rose 5% in the first quarter, driven by demand for cancer medicines (in particular the HER2 breast cancer franchise, Avastin and MabThera/Rituxan), as well as Actemra/RoActemra for rheumatoid arthritis. Sales of Xeloda, a chemotherapy drug, were lower as the product is now off patent and faces generic competition in the United States and Europe. In the Diagnostics Division, strong sales growth was driven mainly by Professional Diagnostics with demand for immunoassays in clinical laboratories. 

Roche is also the world leader in in vitro diagnostics and tissue-based cancer diagnostics, and a frontrunner in diabetes management. Roche’s personalised healthcare strategy aims at providing medicines and diagnostics that enable tangible improvements in the health, quality of life and survival of patients. Founded in 1896, Roche has been making important contributions to global health for more than a century. Twenty-four medicines developed by Roche are included in the World  Model Health OrganisationLists of Essential Medicines, among them life-saving antibiotics, antimalarials and chemotherapy. 


In 2013 the Roche Group employed over 85,000 people worldwide, invested 8.7 billion Swiss francs in R&D and posted sales of 46.8 billion Swiss francs. Genentech, in the United States, is a wholly owned member of the Roche Group. Roche is the majority shareholder in Chugai Pharmaceutical, Japan.