Indianapolis, Ind., October 31, 2003

Purdue University, Roche Diagnostics Announce Second Annual Life Sciences Business Plan Competition

Purdue University and Roche Diagnostics Corporation are teaming up again to seed growth for business ideas that provide promising ideas for Indiana's Life Sciences Industry. Following the successful inaugural Purdue Life Sciences Business Plan Competition last Spring, Purdue and Indianapolis-based Roche, today announced the call for entries for the 2004 entrepreneurial competition. More than $147,000 will be awarded for business plans that describe the path to market for products and technologies in the life sciences, biotechnology and biomedicine. The prize package is one of the largest awards for a business plan competition in the United States.

Sponsored by Purdue's Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship and Roche Diagnostics, the competition will take place April 20-21 at Purdue's West Lafayette campus. Teams must submit their executive summaries by January 5, 2004.

"We are delighted to host the second annual Purdue University Life Sciences Business Plan Competition. Our major partner, Roche Diagnostics Corp., is one of the major life sciences firms in the world. Our partnership with Roche and our associate sponsors, Baker & Daniels, Clifton Gunderson, Central Indiana Corporate Partnership, and Indiana Health Industry Forum, resulted in a competitive and high-quality business plan competition last year," said Richard A. Cosier, director of the center for entrepreneurship and dean of the Krannert School of Management. "All of our sponsors are returning, and we expect this year's competition to be even better. It will allow us to spotlight Indiana as a major player in the life sciences arena."

"Roche is committed to strengthening Life Sciences, here in Indiana, and working with a world renowned university like Purdue on a project like this enables us to advance the academic awareness and attention to the life sciences and bioresearch." said Martin Madaus, president and CEO, Roche Diagnostics Corporation. "The 2003 entries demonstrated creative thinking, passion and innovation, and this competition provides an avenue for recognition and business consideration. Roche encourages the entrepreneurial spirit in our people as well as in others in order to grow future business ideas and push the limits of ordinary thinking."

Teams based at universities and colleges, research and teaching hospitals, and other academic institutions engaged in bioresearch are eligible to enter.

Teams may be fledgling enterprises seeking seed capital or those further along in the commercialization process, including firms that have received grants, venture capital or equity investments. There is no restriction on the number of team members, but teams are encouraged to include participants with business backgrounds or MBA students. Purdue has developed a list of MBA students that teams may contact for help in developing their plans.

Eight finalists will be chosen from their executive summaries, due on January 5, 2004. Those teams will make 45-minute presentations to a panel of judges. First prize in the competition is $50,000; second prize is $20,000; third prize is $15,000; fourth prize is $7,500; fifth prize is $5,000; sixth prize is $2,500. Presentations, judging and awards presentations will take place on April 21.

On April 21, 2004 competitors will have the opportunity to display their technologies and marketing materials.

As the founding sponsor, Roche Diagnostics contributed $100,000 to the competition. Other sponsors for the 2004 contest are: Clifton Gunderson LLP, Aventor, Baker & Daniels, Indiana Health Industry Forum, Central Indiana Life Sciences Initiatives.

The Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship brings together existing entrepreneurial efforts on campus, including technology transfer activities and other entrepreneurial competitions, speakers and events. The center also serves as a resource for Purdue researchers to commercialize their discoveries and as the intellectual center of education on, and discussion of, entrepreneurial philosophy and issues.

The Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship is one four major centers planned for the $100 million Discovery Park complex, which includes the Birck Nanotechnology Center, the Bindley Bioscience Research Center and an e-enterprises center. Roche Diagnostics is the first corporate partner of Purdue's Discovery Park.

Interested parties can visit the Purdue University Life Sciences Business Plan Competition for entry forms, rules, schedules and resources by visiting http://www.purdue.edu/discoverypark/lifesciencescompetition/

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 65,000 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. Roche Diagnostics' North American headquarters are in Indianapolis, Indiana (www.roche-diagnostics.us). For further information, please visit our websites www.roche.com and www.roche-diagnostics.com.