Roche Diagnostics signs five-year Molecular Center of Excellence agreement with University of Maryland School of Medicine and Medical Center

—Roche Diagnostics has announced the establishment of a strategic alliance with the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the University of Maryland Medical Center to operate a Roche Molecular Center of Excellence (MCOE) for the next five years.

Indianapolis, January 9, 2009

As a nationally recognized Roche MCOE, the Medical Center’s molecular diagnostics laboratory will offer physicians and patients the most advanced molecular diagnostics technologies, such as Roche’s fully automated, real-time HIV viral load test, which was approved by the FDA in 2007. 

Established in 2002, Roche’s MCOE Program is designed to create an alliance network that enables non-competing regional laboratories across the U.S. to collaborate and capitalize on scientific knowledge in molecular testing and, in turn, help accelerate the advancement of new test methods and technology.

“As a research-focused healthcare company, Roche is excited to welcome the University of Maryland into its Molecular Center of Excellence program for the collegial exchange of strategy and “best practices” in the field of molecular diagnostics,” said Whitney Green, Roche Diagnostics’ Senior Vice President of the U.S. Molecular Diagnostics division.

Under the leadership of Richard Y. Zhao, Ph.D., the University of Maryland Medical Center’s Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory has become nationally recognized for excellence in technology-based research and clinical molecular diagnostics. The laboratory focuses on new prognostic and diagnostic tools for individualized molecular testing for personalized treatments in such key areas as infectious diseases, genetic and familiar disorders, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Dr. Zhao is also on the faculty of the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

The collaboration with Roche Diagnostics further enriches the university’s commitment to providing high-quality clinical services that support research and patient care, according to Sanford A. Stass, MD, University of Maryland School of Medicine professor and chair of the Department of Pathology. “With the combination of Roche’s cutting-edge technologies and our expertise in clinical molecular diagnostics, we will be able to offer the most advanced diagnostic testing to University of Maryland Medical Center clinicians and their patients,” he said.

About Roche

Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world’s leading research-focused healthcare groups in the fields of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. As the world’s biggest biotech company and an innovator of products and services for the early detection, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases, the Group contributes on a broad range of fronts to improving people’s health and quality of life. Roche is the world leader in in-vitro diagnostics and drugs for cancer and transplantation, and is a market leader in virology. It is also active in other major therapeutic areas such as autoimmune diseases, inflammatory and metabolic disorders and diseases of the central nervous system. Worldwide, the Group employs about 80,000 people. Additional information is available on the Internet at www.roche.com.

About the University of Maryland Medical Center

The University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) is a major teaching hospital in downtown Baltimore that provides the full range of health care to people throughout Maryland and the Mid-Atlantic region, with more than 35,000 inpatient admissions and 165,000 outpatient visits each year. The medical center has approximately 6,800 employees as well as 1,000 attending physicians. All members of the medical staff are on the faculty of the University of Maryland School of Medicine. The medical center is a national and regional referral center for trauma, cancer care, neurocare, cardiac care and heart surgery, women's and children's health and organ transplants. It has one of the nation's largest kidney transplant programs, one of the most technologically advanced operating room facilities, and is internationally recognized for its leadership in developing and performing minimally invasive surgical procedures. For more information: www.umm.edu.

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 For further information please contact:

Doyia Turner

Roche Diagnostics Corporation

317.521.7252

doyia.turner @roche.com

  

Ellen Beth Levitt

University of Maryland Medical Center

410.328.8919

eblevitt@umm.edu