Pleasanton, CA. August 23, 2004

Federal Judge Throws Out Promega's Case Against Roche
Claim of Fraud is Rejected for Second Time

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia announced Monday it had again dismissed a case filed by the Promega Corporation against Hoffmann-La Roche Inc (Roche) and Applied Biosystems (ABI), rejecting Promega's attempt to claim that Roche and ABI committed fraud against the U.S. Government.

Federal Judge Claude M. Hilton ruled that Promega had failed to state a fraud claim against Roche, rejecting for a second time Promega's claims that Roche had committed fraud by enforcing patents used to perform the Nobel Prize-winning Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) technology, widely used by health and law enforcement officials.

"We were baffled by this case from the beginning, because Promega failed to identify any false statements made by Roche to the Government, or any false charges ever submitted by Roche," said Ray Mullady of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, who is representing Roche in the matter. "We are pleased that the Court has once again dismissed Promega's groundless litigation."

Promega's case, filed under the False Claims Act, was first dismissed by Judge Hilton in June, when he determined that Promega had not been able to plead the basic facts required to show a violation of law. Promega's amended complaint, filed in July, offered no new information and recycled those claims already rejected by the Virginia court.

In May, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California rejected similar claims made by Promega, declining to find Roche's portfolio of PCR patents unenforceable. Promega pursued the Virginia case in an effort to pressure Roche into settling the case in California, in which Roche has sued Promega for infringing the fundamental patents on PCR, according to attorneys for Roche. The U.S. Department of Justice expressly declined to join Promega in pursuing the False Claims case.

About Roche and Roche Diagnostics
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 worldwide. For further information, please visit our websites www.roche.com and www.roche-diagnostics.com.

For more information, please contact:

Paula L. Evangelista
Sr. Director, Communications
Roche Molecular Systems, Inc.
Tel: 1.925.730.8374
Fax: 1.925.225.7758
E-mail: paula.evangelista@roche.com