FRANKFURT, April 24 (Reuters) - Roche said on Wednesday its first-quarter sales slipped 6% as the loss on COVID-19 related revenue was partly offset by further gains in eye drug Vabysmo.

First-quarter sales slipped to 14.4 billion Swiss francs ($15.80 billion), in line with analysts expectations, also due to a strong Swiss franc weighing on the overseas sales.

Roche said it still expects an increase in 2024 sales in the mid single-digit percentage range at constant exchange rates. ($1 = 0.9115 Swiss francs) (Reporting by Ludwig Burger, editing by Andrey Sychev)