In his first speech as Roche’s new ceo, Severin Schwan says the drugmaker intends to focus more on personalised medicine.

Speaking at the firm’s annual meeting in Switzerland, Schwan, who has just succeeded Franz Humer, claims “it is an unfortunate fact that medicines are currently not as effective as they could be in an average of around 50% of patients, and in certain indications the success rate is even lower.” However, he adds that Roche’s strategy is unique “and we must use it as a basis for successfully advancing the company” by “systematically pursuing personalised medicine.”

Using the genetic differences between patients to develop treatments and tests tailored to the needs of specific patient populations is seen by many observers as being a long way off, PharmaTimes notes, but Schwan claims that Roche’s approach “is capable of increasing the safety, efficacy and cost-efficiency of treatment.” There is “no company in the world in a better position to make this approach reality,” he boasts.

This explains why Roche paid $3.4 billion for Ventana Medical Systems, which makes diagnostic tests that can be used to better detect cancers. Of course, by eschewing one-size-fits-all drugs in favor of finding meds for smaller, fine-tuned markets, Roche hopes to lower development costs and charge a lot to those very select patients and their insurers.