Indianapolis, Ind., April 1, 2004

New Roche Genetics Education Tool Available for Indiana's High School Teachers

With the help of a new interactive genetics education program from Roche, the global healthcare company, educators now have a teaching tool that helps high school students understand the role that heredity plays in establishing the course of their health over a lifetime, thus enabling them to consider life style choices that can have a real influence on their long-term health and quality of life. Available for high school educators free from the company, the program includes a downloadable Roche Genetics interactive tool and Teacher's Manual.

The new Genetics Education Program, now available on-line at www.roche.us for high school teachers in Indiana, was designed by a panel of educators from across the United States, working in cooperation with Roche, which sponsored the effort. Local science educators Gordon Mendenhall, Ed.D, Assistant Professor at the University of Indianapolis and Carolyn Hayes, Center Grove High School teacher, participated in the development of the program. The New Jersey Science Education Leadership Association spearheaded the initiative with Roche. The education program provides a resource for area science teachers to introduce the subject of genetics through the use of an interactive tool and teacher's manual, which Roche is allowing users to download and distribute freely.

Dr. Mendenhall, a biology and human genetics teacher in Lawrence Township for over 30 years, stated, "Human genetics is about variation, the ultimate of which are our individual and unique genomes (DNA). When students are introduced to this concept applied to medicine, the term pharmacogenetics does not sound so strange. We want students to embrace knowledge about themselves at the molecular level and make it work for them, not fear the new medicine as an unknown."

As the topic of genetics becomes increasingly present in the news and more likely to impact the future of healthcare for young and old alike, Roche is providing educators with a much-needed curriculum to address genetics education in schools. In rapidly evolving areas such as genetics, science textbooks and workbooks can quickly become outdated, potentially leaving school children with an incomplete understanding of scientific concepts, such as the interrelation between genetics and personal health.

"As a leader in the discovery and development of diagnostics and medicines that rely on genetic information to understand the detection and treatment of disease, Roche is pleased to make this educational program available to help teachers and students," said Martin Madaus, President and CEO, Roche Diagnostics Corporation. "Bringing a unique approach to genetics at the classroom level is a great way to stimulate the students' interest and encourage them to pursue the sciences."

The Genetics Education interactive tool equips science teachers with information they can use in the classroom to help bring to life the benefits of genetics education. It is organized into self-guided tours through the topic of genetics. With computer animation and streaming video accompanied by voiceover content, educators can provide students at various levels with an understanding of the genetics behind disease and its prevention.

Highlights of the Genetics Education Program include:

• Introduction to genetics
  
  
• An overview of how healthcare providers can identify genes associated with certain diseases and disorders and, as a result, determine patient susceptibility to disease and strategies for managing risk factors
  
  
• An introduction to pharmacogenetics, an important emerging field involving the development of individualized medicines to treat specific diseases by targeting specific genes
  
  
• Discussion of ethical, legal and social issues involved in genetics

The Roche Genetics Education Program and Teachers Manual can be obtained by going to www.roche.us.

About Roche

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, is the leading supplier of pharmaceuticals for cancer and is 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, including approximately 15,000 in the United States. Roche's U.S. operations comprise more than a dozen sites located in California, Colorado, Indiana and New Jersey, as well as in Puerto Rico. The Group has alliances and research and development agreements with numerous partners, including majority ownership interests in Genentech and Chugai. Roche's Pharmaceuticals Division offers a portfolio of leading medicines in therapeutic areas including cancer, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, transplantation, dermatology and influenza. 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 (Global: www.roche.com and U.S.: www.roche.us)

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