Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG took $1.7 billion in restructuring charges it said should lead to big savings as it confirmed its outlook on Thursday with first-half sales beating expectations. Roche, the world’s largest maker of cancer drugs, is better positioned than most in the global drugs industry to weather patent expiries and government price cuts since its top-selling cancer medicines do not face imminent generic competition. First-half sales rose 3 percent to 22.4 billion Swiss francs ($22.61 billion), compared with the average analyst forecast of 22.1 billion in a Reuters poll.
