Roche Holding Chief Executive Officer Severin Schwan told reporters that the company's founding families wanted Roche to remain independent. He said, "Nothing has changed with regards to Roche's position towards Novartis.The families Hoffmann and Oeri have repeatedly stated they're committed to Roche's independence."

Last month, Novartis Board Member Pierre Landolt had told newspaper Basler Zeitung that a merger between the two drugmakers would make sense. He also said the Swiss publication that a combination would create a pharmaceutical champion in Europe.

However, Schwan said Roche would look for smaller acquisitions to enhance its core diagnostics and pharmaceutical units. In September, he told Bloomberg that the drug manufacturing company would be purchasing companies which are less than USD 1 billion. He added that the company could undergo a bigger deal like that of the USD 3.4 billion acquisition of Ventana Medical Systems Inc in 2008 on a occasion.

Thirty-three percent of the voting shares in Roche is held by Novartis. The stake was acquired over ten years ago by Daniel Vasella, the former chair of Novartis. He was not successful in his attempt to convince Roche's founding families to merge the two firms.