Roche Diagnostics Joins Global Healthcare Exchange

World leader in in vitro Diagnostic Products Expands e-Commerce Services to U.S. Hospital Market

WESTMINSTER, Colo. and INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - January 20, 2003 - Roche Diagnostics, the leading supplier of diagnostic products and services for healthcare, has joined Global Healthcare Exchange, LLC (GHX) to expand its e-commerce services to the U.S. hospital market. By integrating to GHX's Internet-based trading exchange, Roche Diagnostics will be able to expand services to receive and fulfill orders electronically from its hospital customers. More than 739 hospitals and other healthcare facilities in the U.S. are already connected and transacting business with suppliers via GHX. With completion of a recently announced merger between GHX and Medibuy, Inc., that number will expand to more than 1300 healthcare provider organizations.

"Roche Diagnostics decided to join GHX because its open and neutral exchange model and comprehensive suite of services are designed to reduce costs across the entire healthcare supply chain," said Martin Madaus, President and CEO of Roche Diagnostics, North America. "Through our involvement in GHX, Roche and its customers can convert many of the key business processes involved in healthcare purchasing and fulfillment from manual to electronic, ensuring greater efficiencies that lower overall operating costs."

Many of Roche Diagnostics' current U.S. hospital customers are already participating in GHX and each will now have the opportunity to buy products from Roche and other suppliers through a single Internet connection to GHX. "By joining GHX, we can provide even greater service options to this important sector of our market," adds Madaus. Roche Diagnostics already handles a significant amount of its business with retail and distributor customers electronically, using electronic data interchange (EDI).

GHX President Mike Mahoney welcomes the addition of Roche Diagnostics to its growing list of participating suppliers. "As the world's leading provider of diagnostic systems for healthcare with a broad product portfolio, Roche is a key supplier to U.S. hospitals. Roche's participation in GHX will expand the percentage of hospital purchasing that can be handled electronically, while increasing GHX's ability to deliver the benefits of e-commerce to the marketplace."

More than 80 suppliers are currently conducting business via GHX in the United States.

About Roche and the Roche Diagnostics Division

Headquartered in Basil, 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 employ 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 worldwide. Roche Diagnostic's North American headquarters are located in Indianapolis, Ind. For further information, please visit our websites www.roche.com and www.roche-diagnostics.com.

About Global Healthcare Exchange

Global Healthcare Exchange, LLC (GHX) provides an open and neutral electronic trading exchange, along with complementary products and services, through which buyers and sellers can collaborate to improve efficiencies in the healthcare supply chain. GHX's catalog and content services improve the accuracy of purchasing transactions, reducing many of the most common and costly problems in healthcare procurement, while the privately held company's revenue neutral business model is designed to lower costs for all involved. GHX's owners, strategic partners and trading exchange participants are representative of the entire healthcare supply chain, including suppliers and distributors; integrated delivery networks (IDNs), hospitals and ancillary healthcare facilities; group purchasing organizations and their proprietary healthcare trading exchanges; and supply chain technology companies. Equity owners of GHX include Johnson & Johnson Health Care; GE Medical Systems; Baxter Healthcare Corp.; Medtronic USA, Inc.; Abbott Exchange, Inc.; Siemens; Becton, Dickinson & Co.; Boston Scientific Corporation; Tyco Healthcare Group, LP; Guidant Corp.; C.R. Bard, Inc.; NewHealthCo, LLC; B Braun, Premier, Inc. and HCA. For more information visit www.ghx.com.