BASEL, Switzerland – Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche yesterday announced third-quarter sales up 9% from the same period last year, driven by strong growth from its two leading cancer treatments.

Sales for the third quarter were 7.37 billion Swiss francs ($5.85 billion), Roche said.

The company, the parent of Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. of Nutley, N.J., does not issue quarterly earnings figures. Half-year earnings announced in July were $2.33 billion – more than double the 2003 figure.

Although the third-quarter figures were slightly below analysts’ expectations, Roche said it is on track to meet its full-year sales and earnings targets and believes its operating margin will rise above 22% this year, two years ahead of target.

In early trading in Zurich, Roche shares were down 1.6% $100.3.

Sales from Roche’s non-Hodgkins lymphoma drug MabThera, also known as Rituxan, surged 31% to $696 million, while sales of breast cancer therapy Herceptin climbed 25% to $296 million.

Colon cancer drug Avastin has generated sales of $359 million since its launch seven months ago, Roche said.

Roche, the world’s eighth-largest drug maker, repeated its forecast for a double-digit percentage rise in operating profit and a “substantial rise in net income” this year.

Fourth-quarter sales could get an unexpected boost from higher demand for Roche’s influenza treatment Tamiflu, which the company said has sparked interest from the U.S. government seeking to resolve a flu vaccine shortage.

The chief executive of Roche, Franz Humer, said the company is talking with the American government to see how Tamiflu could assist in the shortage caused by the temporary shutdown of a British supplier.

“It’s fair to say that we have negotiated with the U.S. government. … We’re doing our utmost to ensure we can meet the government’s demands,” Mr. Humer said.

Tamiflu and other antiflu drugs aren’t substitutes for vaccines, but are designed to ease symptoms and be used as a preventative.

They work against any strain of influenza by targeting a protein that the virus needs to infect new cells and spread in the body.