Roche Diagnostics Corporation Website Wins BMA Award of Distinction

"Voice of the Customer" Recognized in New E-Business Applications

Indianapolis, Ind., April 22, 2003 - The Roche Centralized Diagnostics' E-Business department, a business area of Roche Diagnostics Corporation of Indianapolis, Ind., recently received a top award for its US public lab systems website (http://us.labsystems.roche.com).

The Biomedical Marketing Association (BMA) of Indianapolis, Ind., presented an Award of Distinction to Roche during its Diagnostics Awards ceremony at the 25th annual conference March 8, 2003 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. BMA (http://www.bmaonline.org) is a professional association for diagnostics marketing professionals that helps keep members current on industry changes and the latest marketing trends.

"This website just recently underwent an extensive redesign, an indication of our commitment to continually improve navigation throughout the site, ensuring it is intuitive and customer-friendly," said Susan Gillim, E-Business manager for Roche Centralized Diagnostics.

"The website now offers product demonstration videos allowing customers to learn more about product features and functionality online in a more interactive manner at their convenience," she added. The development of these virtual demos was a direct result of web-based customer survey results where web-based training and virtual demos were in the top 3 most-requested features.

MyLabOnlineSM , a Roche E-business product, is another award-winning Centralized Diagnostics website. It was designed in response to customer requests as a one-stop shop repository of both analyzer and reagent documentation and information for current Roche customers. The password-protected website also features a new online learning center with true web-based training programs that are Product Application and Consulting Engineers (P.A.C.E.) accredited.

"It is because we respond to such customers' needs that MyLabOnline consistently receives a 95 percent or higher approval rating," Gillim said. "Strategically, our customers tell us that access to the site has gone from 'nice to have' to 'business critical'."

By continuing to address customers' needs at 'Internet speed,' Roche Diagnostics ensures that it remains at the forefront of innovating healthcare information, she added.

About Roche and the Roche Diagnostics Division
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is an innovation-driven global healthcare leader focused on pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Roche is number one worldwide in diagnostics, oncology and transplantation and has a leading position in virology. With products and services that address the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases, the company contributes broadly to the enhancement of people's health and quality of life. Roche employs approximately 62,000 people in more than 150 countries around the world. The company has business alliances and R&D relationships with numerous partners, including majority ownership interests in Genentech and Chugai, which are both members of the Roche Group. 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. For further information, please visit our websites us.labsystems.roche.com and www.roche-diagnostics.com.