Editiones Roche, established in 1971, is the Roche Group’s in-house publishing arm

Editiones Roche publishes books on an extremely broad range of subjects related to healthcare — from the life sciences and new innovations in medicine to medical history and topics at the intersection of health(care) and the arts. Its books are aimed to appeal both to health professionals and other specialists and to general readers with an interest in medicine or the history of science.

All titles from Editiones Roche can be ordered at book stores.

Senses, Sensors and Systems
A journey through the history of laboratory diagnosis
Sabine Päuser (editor)
This richly illustrated volume recounts the history of laboratory medicine, tracing the development of what is now also commonly referred to as in vitro diagnostic testing with a thematic breadth unmatched by other publications on the subject. In the book’s 25 chapters the contributors — respected subject experts and science journalists from Europe, Japan and the United States — offer a stimulating and entertaining account of a medical discipline in the making, complete with a wealth of fascinating sidelights on the historical settings in which many important inventions and discoveries occurred. The book surveys the rise of diagnostic testing from its origins in antiquity and the middle ages to the breathtakingly rapid advances of the past 150 years. Present-day developments are covered, and the authors also take a look ahead at new breakthroughs on the horizon. In addition to examining the tests and techniques that stand out as milestones in the history of laboratory diagnosis, the book also focuses on the men and women behind these advances
2004; English ISBN 3-907770-89-7
2003; German ISBN 3-907770-88-9

Good Chemistry
The Life and Legacy of Valium Inventor Leo Sternbach
Alex Bänninger, Jorge Alberto Costa e Silva, Ian Hindmarch, Hans-Jürgen Möller, Karl Rickels
In 2003 the blockbuster drug Valium Roche celebrated its 40th year on the market, and its inventor, Leo Sternbach, celebrated his 95th birthday. The first part of this book offers a detailed biography of this great scientist by Swiss journalist Alex Bänninger. Born the son of a pharmacist in the first decade of the 20th century, Sternbach began pursuing his passion for chemistry at an early age. After completing his university studies in Europe, he joined Roche Basel in 1940. He escaped persecution by the Nazis by accepting a transfer to the Group’s US affiliate in Nutley, New Jersey. The book traces Sternbach’s remarkable record of scientific achievement, which began in Nutley, resulted in 230 US patents and 125 publications and earned Sternbach numerous honorary degrees and other awards. The second part of the book is devoted to advances in the treatment of anxiety and explores the medical and social impact of the benzodiazepines, the class of drugs pioneered by Sternbach.
2003; McGraw-Hill, New York; English ISBN 0-07-142617-5

Images & Imagination
Captivating science
Ernst Peter Fischer
‘All men desire by nature to know. An indication of this is the delight we take in our senses; for even apart from their usefulness they are loved for themselves; and above all others the sense of sight…’ — Aristotle
Images are the starting point of discovery, the spark that ignites our imagination. Images of the marvels of the human body have played an important role in advancing science since Leonardo da Vinci’s time and hold a special fascination when they take us inside the body for a glimpse of its inner workings and structures. They can render the invisible visible and make the incomprehensible accessible. Form and colour, rather than the objects themselves, are the focus of this striking collection of images. By delighting the eye, the book aims to awaken the viewer’s interest in science and communicate some of the fascination felt by the men and women working at the cutting edge of research.
2001; illustrations with accompanying texts in English, French, German and Spanish; ISBN 3-907770-86-2

Robert Spreng
Alexander Bieri
Robert Spreng was the great pioneer of the ‘New Objectivity’ in Swiss photography. From as early as 1910 until 1967, the year he closed his studio, Spreng produced countless works that are still regarded by experts and collectors as among the finest examples of photography in the ‘New Objectivity’ style. All the plates in this collection were produced using duplex process printing to ensure maximum fidelity to the originals. Spreng’s photographs of the executive office building designed for Roche by Otto R. Salvisberg and a short introductory essay on the famous architect’s career and work make this volume a prize addition to the library of anyone interested in photography and architecture.
2001; illustrations with accompanying texts in English and German; ISBN 3-907770-85-4

Weighty Matters
Getting to grips with corpulence
Susan Jebb, Arya M. Sharma, Antonio Castillo Ojugas, Jürgen Margraf, Alain Golay
This book addresses a multifaceted health problem — obesity and its complications — in practical, down-to-earth terms. The contributors explore the many potential health risks faced by obese individuals, even well before they reach middle age — from diabetes and high blood pressure to heart disease, back problems and breathing disorders such as chronic sleep apnea — and examine the devastating effects that obesity can have on self-esteem. The artwork and photographs reproduced in the book are intended to show that many overweight people have a style and flair all their own. They are attractive in their own way and, if personal appearance were the only consideration, might not have to lose any weight at all.
2000; German ISBN 3-907770-82-X
2000; Spanish ISBN 3-907770-84-6

The Surgeon's Stage
A History of the Operating Room
Christoph Mörgeli
The Greek word cheirourgia simply means handicraft, a fact that is apt to strike us as odd, given the long and arduous training that goes into becoming a surgeon nowadays. Grateful as we are for the surgeon’s steady hand when we have need of his services, who today would think of calling surgery a craft?
Yet for centuries surgery was just that. While university-trained physicians were responsible for treating internal diseases, wound management and operative surgery were the province of wound surgeons, cutters and barber-surgeons. Like all craftsmen, these practitioners completed an apprenticeship and then plied their trade in a ‘workshop’. Prof. Mörgeli’s history takes the reader into the treatment room of the ancient healer and the Medieval barber-surgeon’s shop, the field surgeon’s tent and the naval surgeon’s cabin. As readers will discover, the advances that led to today’s operating suite, with its strict aseptic rituals and sophisticated high-tech equipment, began scarcely a century ago.
1999; English ISBN 3-907770-79-X
1999; German ISBN 3-907770-78-1
1999; Spanish ISBN 3-907770-80-3

Das Anatomische Museum Basel
Hugo Kurz
Basel’s Museum of Anatomy was founded in 1824 in cooperation with the Anatomy Institute at Basel University. Copiously illustrated, this museum guide describes and explains the anatomical specimens in the museum’s collection and provides an interesting historical account of the techniques used to prepare and preserve them. By making the museum’s exhibits more accessible to the interested layman, it helps visitors to discover more about the structure of the body and its organ systems and about anatomical techniques. The museum’s collection includes a number of priceless historical artefacts and unique exhibits. This informative visitors’ companion is designed to help unlock the fascinating world of anatomy and anatomical study.
1999; German ISBN 3-907770-77-3

Roche – A Company History 1896–1996
Hans Conrad Peyer
In this book, the distinguished economic historian Hans Conrad Peyer takes an illuminating outsider’s look at the first 100 years of Roche history. The company’s founder, Fritz Hoffmann-La Roche, was a bold and energetic businessman who firmly believed in the future of branded pharmaceuticals. He was one of the first to recognise that developing and manufacturing pharmaceuticals on an industrial scale would open the way for tremendous advances in the battle against disease. The story of how Hoffmann’s company, founded in 1896, grew into the innovative, global healthcare group that Roche is today is an eventful one, marked by scientific and commercial successes and by crises and setbacks. Separate sections are devoted to the Hoffmann years and to the tenures of Emil C. Barell, Albert Caflisch, Adolf W. Jann and Fritz Gerber, the four outstanding figures who followed Hoffmann as chairman in the period up to 1996. The book closes with a summary appraisal of Roche’s first century and an informative appendix.
1996; English ISBN 3-907770-59-5
1996; French ISBN 3-907770-67-6 (2nd edition)
1996; German ISBN 3-907770-68-4 (3rd edition)
1996; Spanish ISBN 3-907770-60-9

The Pharmacy
Windows on History
Regine Pötzsch (editor)
This book provides a lively, wide-ranging survey of the history of pharmacy in various periods and cultures. It traces the fascinating development of materia medica from the magic potions and herbal concoctions of earliest times to the pharmaceutical industry’s pioneering achievements in the 20th century. In 22 related but self-contained essays the contributors —all of them respected subject experts — examine a broad spectrum of topics, from the 'primitive' healing rituals and herbal cures of shamans, medico-magical healers and medicine men to the innovative medicines being developed at pharmaceutical research centres today.
1996; English ISBN 3-907770-48-X
1996; French ISBN 3-907770-47-1
1996; German ISBN 3-907770-46-3
1996; Spanish ISBN 3-907770-49-8

Wohl & Sein
Cyrill Häring (editor)
This catalogue documents a joint exhibition project combining nine exhibitions staged by Basel museums at seven venues around the city from June to September 1996. The exhibitions focused on selected aspects of the virtually limitless topics of welfare and wellbeing and were aimed at stimulating visitors to take a critical look at issues relating to the common good, individual wellbeing and their opposites.
1996; German ISBN 3-907770-63-3

Sleep in Art
Regine Pötzsch (editor)
This book offers a panoramic view of the phenomenon of sleep as seen through the eyes of artists representing diverse periods and styles. In words and pictures it docu- ments the visual artist's perennial fascination with this subject. The texts accompanying the illustrations are by internationally respected art historians and scientists.
1994; English ISBN 3-907770-27-7 (2nd edition)
1994; German ISBN 3-907770-26-9 (2nd edition)
1994; Spanish ISBN 3-907770-25-0

Apotheken-Gefäss-Sammlung Roche in Grenzach-Wyhlen
Lydia Mez-Mangold
In 1939 Roche acquired a superb collection of apothecary jars and enamelled glassware from the German pharmacist A. Michaelis, including some especially fine pieces crafted by artisans in Winterthur, Switzerland, and by German ceramic and glass makers. In this catalogue of the collection, each piece is individually illustrated and described in detail. The objects are grouped into chapters according to their place of origin. An ideal book for people who know and love ceramics.
1992; German ISBN 3-907946-88-X

Lebende Mikrowelt / The Living Microcosm / Microcosme vivant
Barbara Zink, Françoise Gerber, Viktor Colombo, Stefan Ryser
Thanks to electron microscopy, it is possible to visualise the interior of cells, the basic units of life. This volume of micrographs from Roche’s research labs offers a fascinating glimpse of the living microcosm of the cell. The four authors describe and explain the images in language geared to the general reader and provide background information that helps readers view the images in a broader context.
1991; illustrations with accompanying texts in English, French, German and Spanish; ISBN 3-907946-57-X

Stress
Signs - Sources - Symptoms - Solutions
Mina Michal
In today’s modern world the phenomenon of stress poses a puzzling and unavoidable dilemma for patients and their doctors. Half of all visits to the doctor are directly or indirectly stress-related. Yet any attempt to eliminate stress entirely would be futile and potentially fatal, given its obvious importance as a motor of human endeavour, drive and progress. But how much stress can a person stand before his or her health starts to suffer? This book, amusingly illustrated with cartoons by Pécub, presents an effective, holistic strategy for managing physical and mental stress.
1994; English ISBN 3-907770-38-2 (2nd edition)
1992; French ISBN 3-907946-72-3 (2nd edition)
1991; German ISBN 3-907946-60-X (2nd edition)

Apotheken-Keramik Sammlung “Roche”
Lydia Mez-Mangold
The Roche collection of apothecary jars began with the purchase of over 400 jars after the end of the Second World War. In 1965 Lydia Mez, at the time the Director of the Swiss Museum of the History of Pharmacy in Basel, systematically catalogued the collection, and this volume is the product of her work. The jars in the collection are grouped into chapters according to their place of origin, and each jar is individually illustrated and described in detail. An ideal book for people who know and love ceramics.
1990; German ISBN 3-907946-26-X

Anesthesia
Discovery - Progress - Breakthroughs
Werner Hügin
Anesthesia, one of the great advances of 19th century medicine, was pioneered by practising pharmacists and physicians.
Today, anesthesiology is a branch of medicine in its own right with firm scientific underpinnings in physiology, pharmacology and biochemistry. In this history of anesthesia, the author provides a lively and compelling account of the gradual rise of a clinical specialty from humble, practical beginnings to the status of a science.
1989; English ISBN 3-907946-04-9
1989; German ISBN 3-907946-22-7 (2nd edition)
1989; Spanish ISBN 3-907946-05-7

Infectio.
Infectious Diseases in the History of Medicine
Werner Schreiber, Friedrich Karl Mathys
‘Infectio’ refers first and foremost to a mechanism of disease causation. But it is also a word of considerable symbolic force, evoking the fragility of human life and man’s exposure to external, ever-present threats. Perhaps precisely because infection was recognised quite early in human history as an external threat, man’s struggles to combat it have been particularly intense. This book is about man’s response to the challenge of infectious disease. A response which initially took the form of narrative and descriptive accounts of the natural history of epidemics, was later transposed into the more complex idiom of art and ultimately became scientific and analytical. A series of brief chapters sketch the histories of major epidemic diseases such as plague, cholera, syphilis, tuberculosis, malaria and AIDS. The texts are illustrated with artworks that visually document the ravages of epidemic disease from the middle ages to modern times and bear eloquent testimony to an abiding feature of the human condition.
1987; French ISBN 3-907946-44-8