-- Roche to hold investors meeting in London on Wednesday

-- Personalized Medicine, mid-stage pipeline, R&D spending in focus

-- Updates expected on growth strategy in emerging markets

By Marta Falconi

ZURICH--Roche Holding AG (ROG.VX) will tell investors attending a research-and-development presentation in London next week how it expects to grow by making increased use of its diagnostics unit to develop targeted medicines.

At the London meeting Wednesday, the Swiss drug maker will also showcase highlights from its mid-stage development pipeline, talk about growth in emerging markets and try to reassure investors that it isn't overspending on drug development.

Roche, based in Basel, is the world's sixth-largest pharmaceutical company by sales, according to the latest 2011 figures by pharmaceutical market research company IMS Health Inc. In contrast to many of its peers, sales aren't particularly vulnerable to competition from cheap generics. That is in part because several of its Top 10 drugs are still relatively new, while others are difficult-to-replicate biochemical drugs.

The Swiss drug maker is a darling of analysts, with 17 out of 20 surveyed by Factset giving it a buy rating or equivalent, and only three giving it a hold rating.

Still, Roche needs to convince investors that there is growth beyond the loss of one key patent, that for its third- best selling drug Herceptin, which has become the standard treatment for a certain type of breast cancer. Analysts expect sales of Herceptin to start decreasing from 2015, when the treatment will lose patent protection in Europe. In the U.S., it will lose it in 2019.

Roche has been focusing on developing new drugs to defend its franchise in the treatment of breast cancer, working on products such as Perjeta and T-DM1. Roche is also developing follow-ons to other key cancer drugs, such as Avastin and Rituxan.

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Roche to Showcase Personalized Medicine, Mid-Stage Pipeline

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