ZURICH, March 19 (Reuters) - Swiss drugmaker Roche has

abandoned global diverse workforce targets and compatriot

Novartis is ending its use of diverse panels for U.S. hiring,

the latest companies acting to avoid penalties from recent U.S.

executive orders

Among its measures, Roche said its Chief Diversity

Offices in the U.S. and at its Basel headquarters "will focus on

inclusion and belonging, and responsibilities will be re-scoped

accordingly". Diversity was not mentioned under the offices' new

remit.

According to a memo to global staff reviewed by Reuters, the

changes were made to ensure that Roche "can continue to deliver

medicines and diagnostic solutions to patients".

Novartis told Reuters on Wednesday that evolving laws

and policies in the U.S. would require it to change, and listed

the end of its use of diverse panels as one immediate change to

its own policies. The company continues to believe in "embracing

varied perspectives and fostering equal opportunity for all of

our people", it added.

A number of U.S. companies have been scaling back diversity,

equity and inclusion programmes since U.S. President Donald

Trump declared some elements of DEI illegal and threatened

possible investigations into firms that practice it.

Among companies not headquartered in the United States, Swiss

bank UBS this week scrapped references to establishing

women in management roles and hiring employees from ethnic

minority backgrounds from its 2024 annual report.

Roche said the changes would also take effect outside the

United States "because our global programmes and goals can have

an impact on our U.S. organisations if we are not compliant

under the new law", according to the memo.

Roche is not alone in the pharma industry. Last month,

British drugmaker GSK announced it would no longer set

diversity targets.

Meanwhile, British drugmaker AstraZeneca ( AZN ) and

Denmark's Novo Nordisk have recently said they remain

committed to their DEI programmes.