Swiss biotech company Roche posts 4 percent sales growth

GENEVA (AP) - Swiss pharmaceuticals company Roche says strong growth in diagnostic products helped underpin a 4 percent rises in sales over the first nine months of 2016.

The Basel-based company that generates much of its revenue from various cancer treatments reported sales of 37.5 billion Swiss francs ($37.9 billion) over the period.

Roche's pharmaceuticals division posted 4 percent growth behind breast cancer medicines Perjeta and Herceptin and rheumatoid arthritis treatments. That offset declines in U.S. sales of some products, like flu treatment Tamiflu.

Revenues in Roche's diagnostics business rose 7 percent.

The company said that nearly all the 77 million Swiss francs in revenues from recently launched Tecentriq came in the United States, where regulators approved it in May as the first drug for bladder cancer that harnesses the body's immune system.