Roche pushes to double sales

As cancer rates increase in China and more people use western medicines, Swiss pharmaceutical Roche Holding AG expects sales to double by 2010, the Wall Street Journal reported. The company has a single joint venture in China, Shanghai Roche Pharmaceutical, a 70-30 deal with Shanghai Sanve Pharmaceutical. It expects to see annual revenue increases of up to 16% until 2010, doubling the US$191.2 million sales recorded in 2005. In recent years, some 1.6 million people have been diagnosed with cancer every year.