Roche Products (New Zealand) Limited

Part One: Registry of Organisational Details

1. Business Name: Roche Products (New Zealand) Limited (formerly Roche Products New Zealand Limited until 2002).

2. Company Number: 28323. NZBN: 9429000106566.

3. Entity Type: New Zealand Limited Company. Industry / Business Classification: Primarily pharmaceutical manufacturing and distribution (prescription medicines). Roche Products (NZ) Ltd operates as the local pharmaceutical arm of the Swiss multinational Roche, focused on importing, marketing and distributing prescription drugs in New Zealand.

4. Year Founded: Incorporated 13 September 1973. Roche has thus operated in NZ for over 50 years (established as a branch in 1973).

5. Registered Address: Roche House, 98 Carlton Gore Road, Newmarket, Auckland 1023, New Zealand. (Also mailing address PO Box 109113, Newmarket, Auckland 1149.)

6. Website: www.roche.co.nz.

7. Social Media: The company aligns with Roche’s global online presence – e.g. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube – under the Roche corporate accounts (there is no dedicated NZ-only social media page; Roche NZ content is shared via global channels and local press releases).

8. Company Hub: https://www.companyhub.nz/companyDetails.cfm?nzbn=9429000106566 Companies Office URL: https://app.companiesoffice.govt.nz/companies/app/ui/pages/companies/28323?backurl=H4sIAAAAAAAAAEXLuwrCQBCF4bfZNhsxgRSD2GhhCsG8wLA76kL24sxEydsbMWL3nw9OVfBGUrkcC6awlBCyu%2B8e0G03nbW2tm3TtoaSBp2HuZDAvu%2FXfVHUSY6cp%2FLlkFzmcuAcYe0hg0HvmUT%2B7xVONL8yezCiyArWjCEGhboxcl3Qf55PTI78GRONoDyRidkT%2FPwNwuspRb8AAAA%3D

9. Company Ownership: Roche Products (NZ) Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Swiss Roche group. It has 13,500,000 shares, all held by Roche Finance Limited (a Roche holding entity at Grenzacherstrasse, Basel, Switzerland). The ultimate parent is Roche Holding Ltd of Basel, the publicly listed holding company of the F. Hoffmann-La Roche group.

10. Related Entities: Roche’s diagnostics division in NZ operates via a separate company, Roche Diagnostics NZ Ltd, based in Auckland, focusing on laboratory equipment and tests. Roche Products (NZ) Ltd itself covers the pharmaceuticals business (medicines). Both report up to the same Roche group.

11. Shareholders: As noted, Roche Finance Ltd (Basel) is the sole shareholder (100% ownership). There are no domestic minority shareholders; Roche NZ is effectively a branch of the multinational, with finances consolidated into Roche’s global accounts.

12. Leadership (Board and Key Executives): The local board of directors is appointed by Roche headquarters. As of 2018, directors included John Laurence Wright (NZ, appointed 2016), Dr. Daniel John Thurley (UK, appointed 2016) and Ciro Caravaggio (Singapore, appointed 2017). The General Manager(country head) is not always a legal director but leads NZ operations. In the last decade, the country heads have been: Stuart Knight (Managing Director ~2009–2014) ; Dr. Daniel Thurley (2015–2017, before moving to another Roche role); and Alexander (Alex) Muelhaupt (General Manager 2018–2023). Muelhaupt, a Swiss national, led Roche NZ for five years and also served as Vice-Chair of industry body Medicines New Zealand during his tenure. In early 2025 he departed to a higher role within Roche. As of 2025, a new GM is expected (not yet publicly named). The local management team includes directors for medical affairs, market access, regulatory, and “people & culture” (HR).

13. Staff and Ex-Government Staff: Roche NZ has an office staff presumably in the few dozens (exact headcount not publicly disclosed). Notably, Roche employs personnel with government and public sector backgrounds in policy and market access roles. For example, Andrea Grant served as Roche NZ’s Public Policy Manager from 2009–2011. In a Roche-commissioned study, one Roche affiliate employee was acknowledged as a former PHARMAC staffer now working for Roche (Carsten Schousboe, ex-Pharmac, now with Roche Singapore), exemplifying the “revolving door” between government drug agencies and pharmaceutical companies.

14. Clients / Customers: As a pharmaceutical supplier, Roche’s “clients” are primarily the New Zealand government’s health system. The key customer is Pharmac (Te Pātaka Whaioranga), the Crown drug-buying agency. Pharmac decides which medicines to fund and negotiates purchase agreements with companies like Roche. District Health Boards (now merged into Te Whatu Ora – Health NZ) and hospitals also interface with Roche for supply of hospital medicines and diagnostics. Virtually all Roche’s revenue in NZ ultimately comes from public healthcare funding or private prescriptions. For instance, Pharmac has entered confidential supply agreements with Roche to fund cancer and rare disease drugs. (Unlike lobbying or PR firms, Roche NZ doesn’t serve external “clients” in a commercial sense – instead it sells products to the health sector and provides support to healthcare providers and patient groups.)

15. Industries Represented: Roche operates in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, focusing on innovative medicines (especially in oncology, immunology, hematology, neurology and rare disorders). It also intersects with the healthcare industry broadly. Through Roche Diagnostics (sister company) it is involved in medical laboratory testing and devices. Roche often portrays itself as a “healthcare” or “life sciences” company given its range of pharma and diagnostic products.

16. Public Engagements & Sponsorships: Roche NZ is active in sponsoring medical and patient community initiatives. It is a member of Medicines New Zealand (the industry association for innovative pharma companies) and has held leadership roles there. Roche funds various grants, fellowships and events in the health sector. For example, it sponsors the NZ Society for Oncology’s Roche Translational Cancer Research Fellowship (awarded annually to a cancer researcher). It supports patient organisations: Roche’s global 2023 disclosures show multiple grants to NZ patient groups – e.g. NZ Haemophilia Foundation (youth camp and conference sponsorships totaling ~$25k) and Multiple Sclerosis NZ (NZ$5k toward a study on Pharmac’s MS drug model). Roche NZ also partnered with Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Whātua (Māori tribal authority) in 2023 in a “Tū Kotahi” agreement to explore improving health outcomes for Māori, integrating traditional knowledge with modern medicine. The company engages in corporate social responsibility programs such as the Roche Children’s Walk and local volunteering, and claims to support the “local scientific community” via fellowships and research grants.

17. Affiliations: Besides Medicines NZ, Roche is likely a member of broader business advocacy groups (potentially the NZ Europe Business Council or Sustainable Business Council given Roche’s global sustainability focus, though specifics aren’t public). Roche NZ works closely with patient advocacy groups (e.g. cancer societies, Rare Disorders NZ, etc. often with financial support as noted). It also interacts with government health agencies (Ministry of Health, Pharmac, Medsafe) in a consultative capacity (for example, making submissions on health policy – see Part Two). There is no evidence Roche NZ is formally affiliated with political parties or hired lobbying firms; it conducts influence efforts largely in-house and via industry bodies.

18. Political Donations: No public record of any political donations in NZ by Roche Products (NZ) Ltd or its staff. A search of electoral donations did not find Roche among declared corporate donors, and Roche’s Code of Conduct generally discourages direct political contributions by affiliates. The company appears to focus its advocacy through policy engagement rather than campaign financing.

19. COVID-19 Wage Subsidy: Roche Products (NZ) Limited did not receive the NZ Government COVID-19 wage subsidy in 2020. The Ministry of Social Development’s public register of wage subsidy recipients does not list Roche, indicating the company did not apply (likely because its revenue was not severely impacted during the pandemic, as demand for medicines remained stable). This contrasts with some local health charities which did take the subsidy. Roche’s business actually saw increased demand for certain products (e.g. diagnostic tests) during COVID-19, and the global Roche group remained profitable, so taking a wage subsidy in NZ would have been hard to justify.

Sources: [1] New Zealand Companies Office registry data; [2] Company and industry directory profiles ; [3] Roche global website (NZ page); [4] Medicines NZ and industry publications ; [5] Roche 2023 patient group funding disclosure ; [6] Roche NZ press releases ; [7] NZ Ministry of Social Development wage subsidy database (searched; no entry for Roche NZ).

Spot anything in this entry that is wrong? Please either leave a comment at the end or email, in confidence: bryce@democracyproject.nz