NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Ventana Medical Systems — a Roche Group subsidiary also known as Roche Tissue Diagnostics — has laid off 69 regular employees and 15 contractors.
In response to a GenomeWeb inquiry, a Roche spokeswoman said the layoffs were announced within the company on Nov. 30, adding, "Through the course of normal business, we constantly review our performance, resources and spends. This action was taken to address the challenging business environment and to rebalance our headcount to meet the needs of our current projects."
In October, Roche reported that sales for its Diagnostics division grew 7 percent in the first nine months of 2016, with professional, molecular, and tissue diagnostics sales all contributing to the growth. The tissue diagnostics business contributed 8 percent to diagnostics sales in the first nine months of 2016 with sales of CHF 652 million, growing 15 percent over the year-ago period and 13 percent at constant exchange rates.
Within that business, Roche said at the time, sales in primary staining increased 18 percent and sales in the advanced staining portfolio grew 9 percent. Revenues from external personalized healthcare partnerships grew 39 percent.