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By John Miller
ZURICH, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Roche ROG.S on Wednesday reported full-year core net income rose 7 percent at constant exchange rates, just shy of analyst expectations, as the company continued to launch new drugs it hopes will offset looming patent expirations on older medicines.
Core net income rose to 12.7 billion Swiss francs ($12.82 billion), Roche said, compared to the average 12.8 billion franc estimate by analysts in a Reuters poll. Sales rose to 50.6 billion versus 50.7 billion francs in the poll. world's biggest maker of cancer drugs proposed raising its dividend to 8.20 francs per share, below the 8.45 franc average estimate in the poll.
Roche said sales of its Tecentriq cancer immunotherapy totaled 157 million francs for the year, just off the analyst estimate of 162 million francs but an acceleration after the drug's approval for non-small cell lung cancer in October.
($1 = 0.9903 Swiss francs)