DADE BEHRING ACQUIRES NON-EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS TO A KEY CARDIAC MARKER, NT-proBNP FROM ROCHE DIAGNOSTICS

Basel, Switz. - February 5, 2003 - Roche Diagnostics and Dade Behring announced today that Dade Behring has been granted a non-exclusive license under patent rights of Roche Diagnostics relating to the development, manufacture and marketing of immunoassays that detect a key marker of congestive heart failure (CHF), NT-proBNP (N-terminal prohormone brain natriuretic peptide).

"With the increasing incidence of cardiac disease in an aging population throughout the world, cardiac marker diagnostic tests have become an extremely important part of managing these patients," said Jim Reid-Anderson, Chairman, President and CEO, Dade Behring. "This license enables Dade Behring, a market leader in clinical diagnostics for cardiac disease, to access an important new marker for use in the early detection and treatment of CHF."

"We feel that proBNP is a unique diagnostic and management tool and licensing it broadly will help us to maximize the benefit of this product to the patients, the medical community and our shareholders. Dade Behring is an important partner, because of its expertise in cardiac testing," said Heino von Prondzynski, Head of Roche Diagnostics and a member of Roche's Corporate Executive Committee.

B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) is secreted by the left ventricle when the heart is unable to pump blood efficiently. BNP dilates blood vessels and promotes sodium and water loss, reducing fluid load on the heart and improving cardiac performance. Synthetic BNP, marketed as Natrecor® (nesiritide), is a treatment for heart failure. Thus, measuring BNP does not necessarily allow the physician to differentiate between elevated BNP levels due to drug treatment and elevated BNP due to ventricular dysfunction.

By contrast, proBNP measures N-terminal proBNP (NT-proBNP), which is released when BNP is cleaved from its precursor, proBNP. Elevated plasma NT-proBNP indicates the presence of heart failure and provides information about its severity: the higher the blood level of NT-proBNP, the more serious the condition. NT pro-BNP levels have been demonstrated to be a diagnostic aid in identifying left ventricular dysfunction, allowing physicians to differentiate between heart failure and lung disorders with similar symptoms.

According to the American Heart Association, 4.8 million Americans are afflicted with congestive heart failure (CHF), with 550,000 cases diagnosed each year. There are a number of causes of the disease: the most important are coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, diabetes inflammation and intoxications. Significantly, heart failure is the leading cause of Medicare hospitalization in the U.S., accounting for 18 billion dollars per year in direct costs.

Prevalence of heart failure is expected to continue to rise, due to the aging population and increase in acute coronary syndrome survival. Heart failure is often difficult to diagnose, since its symptoms are nonspecific and are sometimes confused with those of other conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Echocardiography, the gold standard for diagnosis of left ventricular dysfunction, is expensive and not always easily accessible.

About Dade Behring

Dade Behring is the world's largest company dedicated solely to clinical diagnostics. It offers a wide range of products and systems designed to meet the day-to-day needs of laboratories, making it today's best resource in this field. The company is headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois, and has operations in 43 countries. Additional company information is available on the Internet at www.dadebehring.com.

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 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 world-wide. For further information, please visit our websites www.roche.com and www.roche-diagnostics.com.