Roche Diagnostics Invests $51 Million to Lead Environmentally Friendly Future
Ammonia-Based Central Chiller Plant Being Built in Northeast Indianapolis

Any visitor to Roche Diagnostics North American headquarters in Indianapolis would quickly see that Roche believes in balancing the needs of the environment with a growing business. The 150 acre site is best described as a “campus” with ponds, trees, an employee park and plenty of green space. Now, thanks in part to Roche Diagnostics’ global sustainable development initiative, the campus is now home to a $51 million dollar investment to construct an ammonia-based central chiller plant, one of the first of its kind for larger manufacturers in the area.

Once completed in December 2009, the new plant will provide all comfort cooling, process cooling, and refrigeration needs for the entire 18 building campus and will replace the existing halogenated hydrocarbon-based systems. Halogenated hydrocarbons, when released to the environment during their utilization as the refrigerant gas in cooling and refrigeration systems, have been cited by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as contributing to ozone depletion and global warming.

“Roche is celebrating its 100th Anniversary in the United States this year. This is a perfect time to announce this significant investment in facility improvements because it is testimony of Roche’s long-term commitment to the environment and the communities where we operate,” said Tiffany Olson, President and CEO of Roche Diagnostics Corporation.

The phase out of some of these halogenated hydrocarbons is not required by U.S. laws or regulations. This effort is part of The Roche Group, Roche Diagnostics’ Swiss parent company, directive that set a timeline for eliminating the use of essentially all halogenated hydrocarbons at Roche sites worldwide by 2015.

While Roche Diagnostics participates in a number of other environmentally sound programs, such as recycling and energy reduction programs, the chiller project was developed primarily because of Roche’s concern about ozone depletion and global warming. Roche’s sustainable development concept commits to growing and maintaining a profitable business, while at the same time being socially responsible, protecting employees and neighbors, and minimizing to the maximum extent possible the impact of its operations to the environment.

Roche Diagnostics’ Indianapolis facility improvements place this project in the forefront of Roche’s total efforts to promote sustainable development and create and maintain a culture of business and environmental excellence.

“We are all proud to work for a company which is a leader in sustainable development and one that is protecting the environment for future generations. This investment is the right one to do because it will to protect our grandchildren and great grandchildren in the many years ahead,” said Steve Hunter, Manager of Environmental Protection at Roche Diagnostics.

With the chiller project, Roche Diagnostics is leading the way to a healthier, more environmentally friendly future by eliminating three chemical groups commonly used in cooling systems that are major causes of ozone depletion or global warming:

• Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) can be part of aerosol sprays, solvents and refrigerants. They are a major contributor to ozone depletion in the upper atmosphere. For animals and humans to survive, ozone is needed because it absorbs ultraviolet light, which can cause skin cancer and blindness.
  
• Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) are less destructive than CFCs but still damage the ozone.
  
• Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) are not known to contribute to ozone depletion, but lead to global warming. Global warming potential adverse affects include increased costal flooding, disruption in drinking water supplies, increased tropical storms and diseases, changes in agriculture and extinction of animal species. For more information or to receive a copy of Roche’s 2004 Sustainability Report, please visit the following website: http://www.roche.com/sustainability.

About Roche and the Roche Diagnostics Division
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world’s leading research-intensive healthcare groups. Its core businesses are pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. As a supplier of innovative 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 is a world leader in Diagnostics, the leading supplier of medicines for cancer and transplantation and a market leader in virology. In 2004, the Pharmaceuticals Division generated 21.7 billion Swiss francs in prescription drug sales, while the Diagnostics Division posted sales of 7.8 billion Swiss francs. Roche employs roughly 65,000 people in 150 countries and has R&D agreements and strategic alliances with numerous partners, including majority ownership interests in Genentech and Chugai. Roche’s Diagnostics Division, 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 Point of Care Diagnostics, a business area of Roche Diagnostics, supplies products and systems for near patient diagnostic testing in hospitals and outpatient settings.

Roche Diagnostics’ North American headquarters is located in Indianapolis, Ind. (www.roche-diagnostics.us) For further information, please visit our websites www.roche.us and www.roche-diagnostics.com

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