Roche on Thursday reported stagnant sales in its pharmaceutical unit for the third quarter, hit by currency effects and a decline for two of its top selling drugs, Hemlibra and Vabysmo. The division generated revenue of CHF 11.6 billion ($14.5 billion) in the three-month period, up 7% when stripping out currency effects, as the company's overall sales slipped 1% to CHF 14.9 billion, missing analyst expectations of CHF 15.2 billion.Sales of Hemlibra declined 3% to CHF 1.1 billion, down 9% in the US as a result of buying patterns for the haemophilia A therapy, while revenue from Vabysmo fell by the same percentage to CHF 996 million, hit by a contraction in the US branded market, where sales of the eye-disease treatment dropped 11%. When stripping out currency effects, the two drugs posted growth of 4% in the quarter.Along with the declines for Hemlibra and Vabysmo, Roche's best seller Ocrevus saw a 1% drop in quarterly sales to CHF 1.7 billion, although growth was 6% on a constant exchange rate basis. Other declines were seen for Perjeta (-21% to CHF 703 million) — as patients switch to the newer breast cancer drug Phesgo — as well as for Avastin (-17% to CHF 241 million) and Herceptin (-20% to CHF 257 million) due to continued biosimilar erosion.While biosimilar competition is here to stay for a number of Roche's medicines, including an increased impact on Actemra, the drugmaker indicated that the overall hit this year is expected to be CHF 800 million, down from an earlier forecast of CHF 1 billion.Speaking Thursday on an analyst call, Teresa Graham, chief executive of Roche's pharmaceuticals unit, said that regarding the impact of patent expiries in 2025, "the pace picks up in Q4, and that is largely due to Actemra." She added "we are starting to see that kick in the US… and we would expect that to accelerate as we go through the end of the year."Roche said that bright spots in the quarter include Xolair, with sales climbing 25% to CHF 781 million, and Phesgo, which saw revenue jump 42% to CHF 630 million.Raised profit guidanceDespite the below par quarterly sales performance, Roche maintained its full-year outlook for revenue growth in the mid-single digits and even hiked its earnings forecast. The company expects core earnings per share to grow this year in the high single-digit to low double-digit range, up from an earlier estimate of high single-digit growth.CEO Thomas Schinecker said that Roche's growth momentum, its efforts to mitigate any short-term impact of US tariffs, and cost control measures drove the increase in guidance. "Our earnings were growing in the low double-digit range. And that made us comfortable that we can increase our guidance," Schinecker noted.Commenting on the outlook, Vontobel analyst Stefan Schneider expressed surprise at the raised profit guidance, given that third-quarter sales came in below expectations, with most of Roche's big hitters missing estimates.Meanwhile, Schinecker also indicated that talks with the US government have taken place and are ongoing with respect to an agreement around drug pricing. However, he declined to comment on how such a deal would stack up against similar ones reached between the Trump administration and AstraZeneca and Pfizer. "We are in constant exchange with the US government, that is as much as I can say at the moment."Focus on pipelineWith continued biosimilar pressure on Roche's revenue, the drugmaker is hoping that acquisitions — including a recent deal to buy 89bio for $2.4 billion — and its internal pipeline will help offset declines. "Our momentum is…reflected in our pipeline with a number of positive clinical read-outs and a record 10 potentially transformative medicines progressing into the final phase of development," remarked Schinecker. In the third quarter, Roche moved the dual GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist CT-388 into late-stage development, with Phase III progression also for CT-868 in type 1 diabetes; the RNAi therapeutic zilebesiran for uncontrolled hypertension; cevostamab in multiple myeloma; and the tyrosine kinase inhibitor RG6596 for HER2+ breast cancer, which is partnered with Zion Pharma.Meanwhile, pivotal Phase III readouts are still expected this year for Gazyva (obinutuzumab) in systemic lupus erythematosus, fenebrutinib in primary-progressive multiple sclerosis and PiaSky (crovalimab) for atypical haemolytic uremic syndrome. "By the end of the decade, we expect Phase III…results for up to 19 new medicines," Schinecker noted.($1 = CHF 0.797584)