Roche: Innovating Healthcare with Sustainability and Tech

Founded more than 125 years ago, Roche has grown into one of the world’s largest biotech companies and a leading provider of in-vitro diagnostics, delivering innovative solutions across major disease areas.

The company remains deeply committed to its patients, partners, employees and stakeholders, driving its mission to advance science and improve healthcare access globally.

Through its combined strengths in Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics, Roche continues to create meaningful impact by improving patient outcomes and supporting the professionals who care for them.

Innovation and a focus on a healthier future remain at the core of Roche’s purpose.

Roche’s sustainability initiatives

Sustainability is deeply embedded in Roche’s history, culture and operations, guiding the company in delivering transformative medicines and diagnostic solutions while creating long-term value for patients, society and the environment.

The company’s strategy focuses on three areas of impact: expanding equitable access to innovation, fostering a fair and thriving workplace and protecting the environment.

Sustainability is integrated across the entire product lifecycle, from responsible sourcing of natural materials and minimising water use, to designing energy-efficient, recyclable packaging and managing products responsibly at end-of-life.

The company is committed to protecting biodiversity, reducing emissions and addressing climate change, with a goal of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2045 and near- and long-term targets validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

Through rigorous governance and climate risk management aligned with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), Roche ensures ethical practices, transparency and continual improvement.

Its approach includes energy efficiency, adoption of renewable energy, circular economy principles and minimising environmental impacts in research and development, manufacturing and distribution.

By embedding environmental, social and ethical considerations into every aspect of its operations, Roche demonstrates that innovation, business success and planetary health can advance together for the benefit of current and future generations.

All sustainability, net zero and sustainable supply chain leaders should attend:

• Sustainability LIVE: The Net Zero Summit - QEII Centre, London, March 4-5
• Sustainability LIVE: The US Summit - Navy Pier, Chicago, April 21-22

Co-located with Procurement & Supply Chain LIVE, these events brings together CSOs, ESG leaders and senior decision-makers at a moment when sustainability, supply chains and commercial performance are increasingly interconnected.

Tickets can be booked online today for The Net Zero Summit and The US Summit. Group discounts available.

Supply chains at Roche

Roche has modernised its global laboratory supply chains by integrating Tecsys’ cloud-based Elite platform across more than 1,000 labs in more than 50 countries, automating inventory management for reagents and consumables while linking to its SAP backend for real-time visibility and replenishment. 

Peter Brereton, President and CEO at Tecsys, explains: "We are proud to support Roche in providing cutting-edge inventory management solutions to hospitals and laboratories around the world.

"Their trust in our solution is a testament to the transformative impact of modern supply chain technology."

The system reduces manual errors, prevents stockouts and ensures regulatory compliance, all while enabling rapid deployment and scalable operations. 

In regions such as Nigeria, Roche has strengthened supply chains by moving to a direct buy-and-sell model, reducing intermediaries and mark-ups, improving cold chain management and providing hospitals with infrastructure and training to maintain product quality. 

“Looking back three to four years, one of the main problems we faced was having multiple levels of distribution," says Ladi Hameed, Country Manager, Roche Products Nigeria.

“In Nigeria we would go from a main distributor to a sub-distributor to several sub-distributors before finally getting to the end user in the hospital or the patient.”

“Every person in each stage of this complex distribution chain would add mark-ups of 5-10% on the cost of these medicines. Secondly, there would be concern about the quality of the products because very often their cold chain would be a weak link. And then there was a third major problem which came about because the importation of drugs was not done directly by us.

"It was done by the distributor on our behalf and they kept pushing up costs stating the forex versus local currency argument. That meant that we had no control. Any currency fluctuation would immediately be transferred to the patient who was paying out-of-pocket.

"At one stage they were paying a difference of between US$200 and US$500, month on month, for well-known breast cancer and blood cancer medicines.”

By combining advanced technology, streamlined processes and local capacity-building, Roche is able to enhance operational efficiency, supply chain resilience and access to critical medicines worldwide.

AI in healthcare

In order to reduce time, cost and high failure rates, Roche is leveraging AI and machine learning (ML) to transform the drug discovery process. 

Through Genentech’s ‘lab in a loop’ approach, experimental and clinical data are used to train AI models, which then generate predictions for drug targets, therapeutic molecules and antibody designs.

“The ‘lab in a loop’ is a mechanism by which you bring generative AI to drug discovery and development,” says Aviv Regev, Head of Genentech Research and Early Development (gRED).

These predictions are tested in the lab, creating new data that continuously improves model accuracy. 

AI and ML enable rapid virtual screening of molecules, optimise cancer vaccine design and support exploration of novel therapies, while collaborations with technology partners such as AWS and NVIDIA enhance computational capabilities and accelerate R&D. 

By integrating AI into its research pipeline, Roche aims to deliver more effective treatments faster, improving outcomes for patients worldwide.