Swiss drugmakers Novartis and Roche ditch some diversity programmes on US concerns

By Paul Arnold, Maggie Fick

ZURICH (Reuters) -Swiss drugmaker Roche has abandoned global diverse workforce targets and compatriot Novartis is ending its use of diverse panels for U.S. hiring, the latest companies acting to avoid penalties from recent U.S. executive orders

Among its measures, Roche said its Chief Diversity Offices in the U.S. and at its Basel headquarters "will focus on inclusion and belonging, and responsibilities will be re-scoped accordingly". Diversity was not mentioned under the offices' new remit.

According to a memo to global staff reviewed by Reuters, the changes were made to ensure that Roche "can continue to deliver medicines and diagnostic solutions to patients".

Novartis told Reuters on Wednesday that evolving laws and policies in the U.S. would require it to change, and listed the end of its use of diverse panels as one immediate change to its own policies. The company continues to believe in "embracing varied perspectives and fostering equal opportunity for all of our people", it added.

A number of U.S. companies have been scaling back diversity, equity and inclusion programmes since U.S. President Donald Trump declared some elements of DEI illegal and threatened possible investigations into firms that practice it.

Among companies not headquartered in the United States, Swiss bank UBS this week scrapped references to establishing women in management roles and hiring employees from ethnic minority backgrounds from its 2024 annual report.    

Roche said the changes would also take effect outside the United States "because our global programmes and goals can have an impact on our U.S. organisations if we are not compliant under the new law", according to the memo. 

Roche is not alone in the pharma industry. Last month, British drugmaker GSK announced it would no longer set diversity targets.

Meanwhile, British drugmaker AstraZeneca and Denmark's Novo Nordisk have recently said they remain committed to their DEI programmes.

(Reporting by Paul Arnold and Maggie FickWriting by Ludwig BurgerEditing by Rachel More and Mark Potter)