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Wyeth shares rose $1.28 or nearly 3 percent, to $46.28 on the NYSE, above their 52-week high of $45.76 reached earlier this month.

Roche said its first-half net profit rose 4 percent to 3.24 billion Swiss francs ($2.5 billion) on strong sales, particularly of its cancer drugs.

Sales for the first six months of 2005 rose 14 percent to 16.6 billion Swiss francs.

Excluding so-called minority interests, or profits from stakes in other companies, profits fell 3.8 percent to 2.8 billion francs ($2.2 billion).

That drop was largely due to lower income from interest on investments, as well as a profitable bond deal which had boosted earnings in the same period last year, Roche said.

The company does not break out quarterly figures.

Global sales of Roche's best-selling medicine - cancer drug MabThera - rose by almost a quarter, while sales of its anti-influenza treatment Tamiflu more than tripled, the company said.

Shares of Roche closed up 4.1 percent at 172.10 francs ($132.54) on the Zurich exchange.

-_ AP Business Writer Linda Johnson contributed to this report.

-_ On the Net: http://www.pfizer.com http://www.wyeth.com http://www.roche.com ...

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