Roche Holding Ltd. (RO)

Roche Holding Ltd. (RO) - Tracy Staton at Fierce Pharma

Roche's Avastin didn't make the grade against prostate cancer, failing to improve overall survival in combo with chemotherapy and prednisone. And Pfizer's kidney and gastric cancer drug Sutent flopped against breast cancer in two separate studies. . For Roche, this latest Avastin failure makes it two out of three of the big studies expected this year. 

Roche Holding Ltd. (RO) - Deutsche Bank

With the company having suggested prostate cancer could increase potential sales by 500 million to 1 billion Swiss francs a year ($467 million to $934 million), Deutsche Bank analysts said the setback meant 0.5 to 2 percent might need to be come off consensus sales estimates for Roche and 1 to 4 percent from core earnings. 

Roche Holding Ltd. (RO) - Oliver Kaemmerer at WestLB

With the company having suggested prostate cancer could increase potential sales by 500 million to 1 billion Swiss francs a year ($467 million to $934 million), Deutsche Bank analysts said the setback meant 0.5 to 2 percent might need to be come off consensus sales estimates for Roche and 1 to 4 percent from core earnings. Oliver Kaemmerer, an analyst at WestLB, said he was likely to lower his 2014 sales forecast for Avastin of 9.8 billion francs to nearer 9 billion, given that ovarian cancer was the only new opportunity now left available. Avastin, which works by starving tumors of blood, is already used to treat colon, breast, lung and kidney cancers, and had 2009 annual global sales of 6.2 billion Swiss francs. It is a flagship product for Roche, the world's largest maker of cancer drugs, given its potential to expand in these markets and move into treating new types of cancer 

Roche Holding Ltd. (RO) - Deutsche Bank

With the company having suggested prostate cancer could boost potential annual peak sales by between 500 million Swiss francs ($464.3 million) and 1 billion, Deutsche Bank analysts said the setback meant 0.5 to 2 percent might need to be come off consensus sales estimates for Roche and 1 to 4 percent from core earnings. 

Roche Holding Ltd. (RO) - Oliver Kaemmerer at WestLB

With the company having suggested prostate cancer could boost potential annual peak sales by between 500 million Swiss francs ($464.3 million) and 1 billion, Deutsche Bank analysts said the setback meant 0.5 to 2 percent might need to be come off consensus sales estimates for Roche and 1 to 4 percent from core earnings. Oliver Kaemmerer, an analyst at WestLB, said he was likely to revise down his 2014 sales forecast for Avastin of 9.8 billion francs to nearer 9 billion, given that ovarian cancer was the only new opportunity now left available. Avastin, which works by starving tumours of blood, is already used to treat colon, breast, lung and kidney cancers, and had 2009 annual global sales of 6.2 billion Swiss francs. It is seen as the flagship product for Roche, the world's largest maker of cancer drugs, given its potential to expand in these markets and move into treating new types of cancer 

Roche Holding Ltd. (RO) - Zacks Investment Research

Biotech company Biogen Idec ( BIIB , Analyst Report ) and Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche recently suffered a setback with one of their pipeline candidates, ocrelizumab, due to safety related issues. Biogen and Roche announced that they have suspended treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients based on a recommendation issued by an independent Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB). Concerns regarding the safety of the drug were raised in , when a safety review of ocrelizumab in RA and lupus nephritis (LN) studies showed an imbalance in opportunistic infections in patients being treated with the candidate. 

Roche Holding Ltd. (RO) - Brian Abrahams at Oppenheimer & Company

Annual sales of pirfenidone may reach $666.5 million in 2014, according to the average estimate of four analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. A positive FDA panel review would make InterMune an attractive acquisition target for Gilead Sciences Inc., of Foster City, California, or Roche Holding AG, of Basel, Switzerland, said Brian Abrahams, an analyst of Oppenheimer & Co in New York. 

Roche Holding Ltd. (RO) - George Farmer at Canaccord Adams

Canaccord Adams life sciences analyst Dr. George Farmer cut his rating on OSI Pharmaceuticals ( OSIP , news , people ) to "hold," from "buy," on the belief the drugmaker is unlikely to receive any other bids. The $52 per share offer from is "about right" based on the potential of lung cancer drug Tarceva, Farmer said, and that makes a third party offer from OSI joint venture partner Roche Holding ( RHHBY.PK , news , people ) or any other bidder unlikely. 

Roche Holding Ltd. (RO) - George Farmer at Canaccord Adams

. "We do not believe any counter offer, whether from Roche or another party, will come in substantially above current trading levels or will come at all," notes Canaccord Adams analyst George Farmer. 

Roche Holding Ltd. (RO) - Masayuki Onozuka at JP Morgan

We await moves from rivals, Roche included, and they could push up the price," wrote JPMorgan Securities analyst Masayuki Onozuka. 

Roche Holding Ltd. (RO) - Toshihide Yoda at Barclays Capital

"We think the potential synergies are limited for the foreseeable future as Roche already has overseas marketing rights to Tarceva, thereby limiting future sales growth prospects," said Barclays Capital analyst Toshihide Yoda. 

Roche Holding Ltd. (RO) - Fumiyoshi Sakai at Credit Suisse

Credit Suisse analyst Fumiyoshi Sakai suggested OSI may be using price as an excuse, and could prefer Roche to step in as a white knight.