Roche is tackling some of modern medicine’s greatest challenges in its search for medicines to combat serious illnesses for which no effective treatment exists.

It’s a quest that requires both sophisticated technological capabilities and deep insights into molecular biology.

When biotechnology was in its infancy thirty years ago, nobody would have guessed that it would one day give rise to a completely new class of powerful, targeted medicines: monoclonal antibodies (MAbs).

Today, MAbs are being used successfully not only in the fight against cancer but also to treat rheumatoid arthritis.

Searching for a safe and effective new medicine is like looking for a needle in a haystack: only one in many thousands of potential candidates ever completes the journey from idea to pharmacy shelf.

Because we know that a diversity of approaches produces promising ideas faster, Roche has built a unique innovation network of independent research and development (R&D) centres.

Roche is not only the world leader in in vitro diagnostics. We also systematically apply our diagnostic expertise to the research and development of new medicines.

This helps us to develop pharmaceuticals that target the biological mechanisms that give rise to cancer.

Precision and speed count in modern molecular diagnostics. We’re working to improve both.

Our genome sequencers can ‘read’ the building blocks of highly variable genes in a matter of days instead of weeks, which is how long it takes to achieve the same precision with conventional sequencing methods.

This may one day help to extend and improve the lives of transplant patients.

We provide them with the right tools and with the right environment to excel.

• Expertise in molecular biology
• Seamless integration between pharma and diagnostics
• Diversity of approaches
• Long-term perspective