Roche Diagnostics Offers Integrated Modular Analytics SWA, the First True Serum Work Area Solution Consolidating Proven High-Throughput Clinical Chemistry and Immunoassay Testing on a Single System

Basel, Switzerland - October 24, 2002 - With the Integrated MODULAR ANALYTICS SWA, Roche Diagnostics offers the first true serum work area solution for upper and high volume workload laboratories consolidating clinical chemistry, homogeneous and heterogeneous immunoassay testing on an single system.

Roche Diagnostics announced the availability of the integrated MODULAR ANALYTICS Serum Work Area (SWA) combining high-throughput clinical chemistry and immunoassay tests on a single platform. For the first time, laboratories will be able to process approximately 90% of patient samples in one pass, with one sample input, one operator interface, and one complete, actionable report.

It is our objective to support our customers to reduce their total cost per reportable results by maximizing efficiency and productivity with our innovative MODULAR ANALYTICS Serum Work Area (SWA)", commented Burkhard G. Piper, Head of the Business Area Centralized Diagnostics.

"Laboratories are interested in reporting accurate results in a timely manner," said Dr. Gary Horowitz, Laboratory Director, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, USA, an evaluator of the integrated MODULAR ANALYTICS SWA. "What delays things from getting reported has very little to do with analysis time, it has to do with getting samples from one instrument to another."

"We modeled roughly 600 real samples with close to 4,000 tests and found that we spent roughly 12 hours handling these samples," continued Dr. Horowitz. "With the integrated MODULAR ANALYTICS SWA, all that time would collapse to two hours. Our present 24-hour workload could be done in four hours. We would have lots of time and techs available to absorb a lot more work."

The integrated MODULAR ANALYTICS SWA can be configured to meet a laboratory's particular needs from 170 to up to 5,000 tests per hour within a choice of up to four modules plus an electrolyte measuring unit (ISE). The P800 module is the chemistry workstation consolidator, each module offering 44 photometric channels and up to 800 photometric tests/hour. The E170 module offers 25 channels for Elecsys® high-through-put immunoassays to generate up to 170 tests/hour. The single user interface provides easy access to Roche Diagnostics' comprehensive disease management portfolio, which includes cardiac, anemia, diabetes, and other tests, with a combined total menu of over 140 clinical chemistry and immunoassay tests. Preanalytical modules can also be configured as part of the MODULAR family. The long-standing and successful partnership with Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation is one of the foundations on which this outstanding laboratory system, MODULAR ANALYTICS SWA, is based.

About Roche and the Roche Diagnostics Division

Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world's leading research-oriented healthcare groups. The company's two core businesses in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics provide innovative products and services that address prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases, thus enhancing people's health and quality of life. The two core businesses achieved a turnover of 13,1 billion Swiss Francs in the 1st half of 2002 and employed about 57,000 employees worldwide. Roche's Diagnostics Division, the world leader in in vitro diagnostics with a uniquely broad product portfolio, supplies a wide array of innovative testing products and services to researchers, physicians, patients, hospitals and laboratories world-wide. For further information, please visit our websites www.roche.com and www.roche-diagnostics.com.