Sales dropped 3.2% to 14.3 billion Swiss francs (US$15.9 billion), the drugmaker said on Thursday. That compared to the 14.4 billion-franc estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Chief executive officer Thomas Schinecker is facing a two-pronged challenge: the loss of billions of dollars of pandemic-linked revenue for Covid tests and treatments even as clinical trial stumbles have left some investors questioning the company’s ability to deliver on the highest-profile projects.

Schinecker pledged last month to improve the drugmaker’s research and development productivity.

Roche reiterated a forecast for sales to drop in the low single-digit range at constant exchange rates this year, with core earnings per share developing broadly in line with the revenue decline. Sales of Covid-19 products will drop by about 4.5 billion francs.

Roche shares have underperformed those of peers this year, losing 14% in Zurich. A Bloomberg index tracking European pharmaceutical companies has gained 9.9%.