Swiss pharma company Roche reported 7% year on year increase in sales to CHF42.1bn ($42.5bn) in the first nine months of 2018 as newly launched drugs offset the impact of competition from cheaper biosmililars to its top selling medicines.

Sales in the Basel-based drugmaker’s pharmaceuticals division grew 7%, primarily driven by the launch of multiple sclerosis medicine Ocrevus, and cancer drugs Perjeta, Alecensa and Tecentriq. This growth was partially offset by lower sales of MabThera/Rituxan and Tarceva.

In the US, the division’s sales grew by 14%, driven by Ocrevus, Herceptin and Perjeta. The company reported 30% sales increase of Perjeta due to its use for adjuvant treatment of patients suffering with HER2-positive early breast cancer and who stand at high risk of recurrence.

However, the division’s sales in Europe witnessed a drop of 8%. Launches of new medicines Ocrevus, Tecentriq and Alecensa, especially in Germany, could only partially offset 48% plunge in sales of MabThera/Rituxan and 10% fall in Herceptin.

“Both our Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics Divisions achieved very strong sales growth. The uptake of our new medicines continued to be strong in the third quarter.”

Commenting on the group’s results, Roche CEO Severin Schwan said: “In the first nine months of the year, both our Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics Divisions achieved very strong sales growth. The uptake of our new medicines continued to be strong in the third quarter.”

Sales in its diagnostics division grew 6% to CHF9.4bn ($9.5bn), led by Centralised and Point of Care Solutions. The growth was driven by a 13% increase in sales in Asia-Pacific and 6% in North America. A marginal increase of 2% was seen in EMEA region, while Latin America saw 8% growth and Japan saw 3%.

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After raising its outlook twice this year, the company stuck to its forecast for 2018 sales growth to be in the mid-single-digit rate. It expects core earnings per share, including benefits from US tax reform changes, to grow in the mid-teen-digit percentages.

Among the many milestones achieved by the firm in the recent months included the USFDA approval to hemophilia A medicine Hemlibra for the wide patient population. It expects to tap this market, which is currently dominated by drugs of Bayer, Novo Nordisk and Shire.