Here's Exhibit Z in the long list of reasons why Big Pharma wants to make deals with biotech [0]--and why speculation about Biogen and Genzyme is running so high. Roche and Genentech are both reaping a big harvest from their joint cancer drugs this quarter.

Genentech's profit skyrocketed by 21 percent on better-than-expected sales of Avastin [1], which jumped 37 percent to $597 million. Roche's strong cancer-med growth--including its share of Avastin and Herceptin--made up for a shortfall in Tamiflu sales, pushing the company's third-quarter revenues up by 6 percent to $28.7 billion.

- see Genentech's release [2] from Genentech
- check out this news release [3] from Roche
- read the NYT report [4] on Genentech's earnings
- read the article [5] about Roche's results from the International Herald Tribune

Related Articles:
Moody's downgrades pharma industry. Report [5]
Should Pharma take the M&A cure? Report [5]
M&A activity heats up as biotech IPOs struggle. Report [6]
MAbs are hottest segment of biotech industry. Report [7]

Read more on: Genentech [8] | Roche [9] | Avastin [10]