In the U.S., for example, three times in the last year counterfeit versions of the Roche Group cancer drug Avastin have infiltrated the wholesale supply and been sold to cancer clinics and hospitals.

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According to Dr. Jonathan Knowles, former President of Research, Roche Group and vice chairman, Caris Life Sciences, Dallas, Texas, the extreme microscope is a revolutionary piece of technology that will dramatically change how pathology is practiced, specifically in regard to cancer research.

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"The major problem in Hong Kong is labor cost, and the major problem about labor cost is rent, or mortgage rates, " says David Roche of investment group Independent Strategy.

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Timothy Anderson, who covers Roche for Prudential Equity Group, suggested in a note to investors that 10% of patients in the U.S. who could benefit from Herceptin in early breast cancer could already be on the drug.

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"I think any extra regulation will increase costs for everyone and stop innovation on the part of companies already operating on small margins, " said Edward Roche, an analyst at the Concours Group, a Cambridge, Mass.

FORBES: Drug wars

Other companies that derive more than 30% of their revenues from the U.S. are healthcare group Fresenius, supermarket chain Ahold, drug-makers Roche and Sanofi-Aventis, and Nestle.

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The control group got an injectable dose of Rocephin, a Hoffmann-La Roche drug widely used against meningitis.

FORBES: Magazine Article

For almost 60 years, from 1938 until his retirement in 1996, Mr Sacher was an active member of the board of Roche and so only too aware of the controversies that seemed constantly to dog the profitable pharmaceutical group.

ECONOMIST: Paul Sacher