Philadelphia, Pa., July 22, 2003

Roche Diagnostics Launches HCV Educational Programs for Laboratories

Roche Diagnostics today announced plans for a Hepatitis C (HCV)-specific Educational Program for their healthcare customers. Because HCV is the most common blood-borne infection in the United States with approximately 4 million infected individuals, Roche Diagnostics in conjunction with Roche Pharmaceuticals, is committed to providing its laboratories and their customers with better educational resources and information concerning molecular diagnostics testing and treatment for HCV.

Roche's HCV Educational Program will include two components:

• Printed materials to help laboratories present information to healthcare providers
• An information-sharing process to help identify the physicians that are interested in HCV diagnostic and treatment options

As part of this campaign, Roche also will sponsor Continuing Medical Education-accredited courses targeted at HCV-related topics.

"The HCV Educational Program is part of a larger commitment by Roche to provide healthcare customers with the tools to enhance their business and to help them educate their physicians and patients about the new advancements in diagnoses and therapies for HCV," said Dick Aderman, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Roche Centralized and Molecular Diagnostics. "Because Roche Diagnostics and Roche Pharmaceuticals are working cooperatively on this project, the power of Roche can take extra steps to provide the medical community with actionable healthcare information."

For more information about Roche's HCV Educational Program, please contact Roche Diagnostics sales team.

About Roche and the Roche Diagnostics Division
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world's leading innovation-driven healthcare groups. Its core businesses are pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Roche is number one in the global diagnostics market, the leading supplier of pharmaceuticals for cancer and a leader in virology and transplantation. As a supplier of products and services for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease, the Group contributes on a broad range of fronts to improving people's health and quality of life. Roche employs roughly 62,000 people in 150 countries. The Group has alliances and research and development agreements with numerous partners, including majority ownership interests in Genentech and Chugai. 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.