Swiss drug maker Roche Holding AG reported Thursday that sales dipped one percent to 11.03 billion Swiss francs ($12.05 billion) in the first quarter, while hinting that it might be prepared to raise its offer for U.S. diagnostics firm Illumina Inc. Excluding the effect of the strong Swiss currency, group sales rose two percent compared with the same period last year. Analysts had expected a slightly higher turnover, but welcomed the fact that sales of Roche’s blockbuster cancer drug Avastin seem to have stabilized after it lost U.S. regulatory approval for breast cancer.
