The company, known for being the first to produce an anti-HIV treatment, will suspend current experiments being done on two other similar products as a response to the findings of a standard product review.
Claudia Schmitt, company spokeswoman, told Bloomberg on Monday that the decision was made because the company couldn't offer a product with substantial improvements for patients.
She added that the research halt is not expected to have any effect on other approved HIV treatment products.
The experimental products were said to work on certain biological entryways, as well as the actual enzymes, that enabled the HIV virus to invade cells and eventually infect them.
The company's other products, Viracept, Fuzeon and Invirase, are known for their similar treatment objectives, with Fuzeon being marketed as a treatment option for HIV patients found to have stopped responding to other forms of treatment.
Roche's performance in the HIV treatment market, however, has not been favorable, and the announcement reportedly ends the company's contribution to the HIV field.
The company announced that while its doors are still open to future anti-HIV treatment production, it will be refocusing its productions from HIV to other viral infections.
The production of Viracept was forcibly halted in 2007, after examinations proved the medicine to be tainted with ingredients identified as cancer-causing. The company also suffered in terms of sales, as the rise of oral medicine significantly affected consumer response to Fuzeon, resulting in a 38 percent decline.
Other setbacks included toxicity issues with the drug zalcitabine, Roche's first antiretroviral product. The drug was eventually pulled from the market in 2005, according to Aidsmap, as a response to a disappointing lack of demand.
